MY 



YOUTHFU 



mm A urn u aa!) 

..BAYS.? 



BY REY. GEORGE COLES, 

LATE ASSISTANT EDITOR OF THE CHRISTIAN ADVOCATE AND 
JOURNAL, AUTHOR OF LECTURES TO CHILDREN, ETC. 



EDITED BY D. P. KIDDER 



PUBLISHED BY LAITE & SCOTT, 

FOR THE SUNDAY-SCHOOL UNION OF THE METHODIST EPISCOPAL 
CHURCH, '200 MULBERRY-STREET. 

JOSEPH LONGKING, PRINTER. 



Entered according to Act of Congress, in the year 1851, by 
LANE & SCOTT, 

in the Clerk's Office of the District Court of the Southern 
District of New-York. 



EDITOR^S PREFACE. 



The present is deemed a fit occasion for a 
few remarks respecting the adaptation of 
works like the present to general useful- 
ness, and specially to Sunday-school libra- 
ries. 

Biography, when well written, is acknow- 
ledged to be a most interesting and useful 
department of reading. When the subject 
is possessed of a religious character, and 
has attained to useful and honorable posi- 
tions in life, his memoirs become practically 
instructive, on numerous important sub- 
jects, to readers of all classes. 

A common fault of biography has been 

the meagreness of its details respecting the 

early periods of life, during which character 
1 



4 EDITOR'S PREFACE. 

is usually formed. Autobiography pos- 
sesses great advantages here. Matters 
which would have escaped the notice of 
others remain vivid in the recollection of 
the person himself, who is able, also, to see 
their bearings upon succeeding events of 
his life. 

Biography, in order to answer its legiti- 
mate ends, must be truthful. Herein is 
another element of value. Vast amounts 
of reading, prepared for the young, are 
chiefly the product of the imagination, and 
as such are either worthless or injurious. 
In biography we have the historic records 
of real life. The scenes portrayed actually 
occurred, and consequently are deserving of 
attention. 

Considerations like these have induced 
the writer, in his editorial capacity, to en- 
courage the production of autobiographies 
by persons now living and useful in the 
Church. Several such it has been his plea- 
sure to put on the list of the Youth's Library, 



EDITOR'S PREFACE. 5 

in which they are widely circulated and 
read. With no less pleasure is the present 
volume added to the same list. 

Its author is well known to the Church 
and the public as the former junior editor 
of the Christian Advocate and Journal. 

By virtue of his office he sustained, for 
a series of years, the responsibility of edit- 
ing and revising the books of the Sunday- 
school department. Under his editorship 
the Sunday School Advocate commenced its 
existence, and ever since, as vv^ell as in years 
preceding, the Eev. George Coles has been 
known as a devoted friend of the Sunday- 
school cause, a preacher to, and a writer for, 
the young. That an account of the youth- 
ful days of such a man, written by his own 
hand, will be interesting and instructive 
to thousands, cannot be for a moment 
doubted. 

The author having been born and reared 
in England, he has been enabled to record 
his personal recollections of men and events, 

1 



6 EDITOR'S PREFACE. 

concerning ^Y]licll it is ever interesting to 
acquire further and better information. His 
transparent and flowing style will enter- 
tain the reader at every step of his progress 
through the volume ; and not only the 
young, but also persons of mature age, will 
find pleasure and instruction in its perusal. 

With confidence, therefore, is the present 
volume offered to the public, as an addi- 
tional testimony to the importance of early 
piety, and of persevering endeavors for self- 
improvement, and for usefulness in the 
world. 

New- York, 1851. 



AUTHOR^S PREFACE. 



" A Preface," says a late learned editor, 
"is at all times rather a difficult article to 
write. If sprightly, it will be accused of 
levity ; if serious, it will incur the imputa- 
tion of being dull. The writer of this would 
go many miles to see the author who could 
please every reader." Why it should be 
so, is, perhaps, more easily imagined than 
expressed. 

The author of the present work has writ- 
ten a few books, edited a great many for 
the children's department, and, in the line 
of his profession, noticed a great many 
more ; and yet he is free to confess, that, 
when he sat down to write a preface to his 
own work, he knew not what to say. Hav- 



8 AUTHOR'S PREFACE. 

ing said so much of himself in the body of 
the work, he was not at all disposed to 
praise or censure the work itself, and there- 
fore may be excused, in this advertisement, 
from premonishing the reader of what he may 
expect to find in the perusal of its pages. 

The book now presented to the reader 
was not designed for critics and learned 
men, but for young people ; and yet the 
author must acknowledge that in treating 
of the sober realities of life, in a style 
" familiar, but not coarse — elegant, but not 
ostentatious — always equable and exact, 
without apparent elaboration,^^ as Dr. John- 
son expresses it, was no very easy task. If, 
however, the style, such as it is, shall please 
the reader, one object of the writer will 
certainly be accomplished ; and for the rest 
he is willing to trust an unerring Provi- 
dence, and a generous and discerning pub- 
lic. 

It will appear, in the following pages, 
that I have noted things as they affected 



author's preface. 9 

me, either at the time, or in the review of 
them. As to matters of fact, I have related 
them correctly, according to the best means 
of information which I possessed ; and as to 
meditations and reflections, and brief re- 
marks on men and things, I have made 
them agreeably to my own views and feel- 
ings, rather than to the views and feelings 
of others. If I have censured or praised 
any person, or any thing, at any time, it 
was because I judged that person or thing 
to be worthy of censure or praise. To be 
insensible to defects is as bad as to be igno- 
rant of existing excellence ; and to be so 
pleased with everything as to see nothing 
amiss, is as great an evil, nearly, as to be 
so ill-natured as never to be pleased with 
anything. Throughout my whole life I 
have endeavored to acknowledge excellence 
wherever I discovered it, and to discounte- 
nance evil wherever I met vfith it. 

My original design, in writing memoirs 
of myself, was my own gratification, and 



10 AUTHOR'S PKEFACE. 

my motive for continuing the practice was 
my own improvement ; and if I have any 
motive for making my records puWic, it 
is the innocent entertainment of others. I 
have always enjoyed life, notwithstanding 
the sufferings attending it; have always 
found means to alleviate suffering and in- 
crease enjoyment ; have always considered 
this mortal existence too short, by far, for 
the acquisition of all that useful knowledge 
which is desirable, and for the accomplish- 
ment of Avorks that are in themselves laud- 
able and useful ; and I therefore consider it 
my duty to impart all the knowledge I 
possess, that may be of any use to others, 
and to leave behind me some few hints for 
the benefit of those who may come after mee 

G. Coles. 

Peekskill, N. Y., 
June 14, 1851. 



CONTENTS. 



CHAPTER I. 

MY NATIVE PLACE. 

Birth, parentage, ancestors — Character of England as mother of 
the United States — Place of nativity — Description of Stewk- 
lej' Fields — Knral employment and pleasures — The process of 
gleaning — Rural scenes as described by poets — Beauty of the 
flower-garden and fields — Loss of sisters — Family of mechan- 
ics — House, shop, barn, and flower-garden — Ornaments of an 
English cottage — The kitchen-garden hawthorn fence — In- 
habitants of our village — Memory Page 15 

CHAPTER II. 

THE CHURCH SERVICE m ENGLAND. 

Festivals of the Established Church — A country choir — Saying 
the catechism in church — Funeral service in the church — Ef- 
fect of the Church service 38 

CHAPTER III. 

COURSE OF READING. 

Scarcity of books — Maternal uncle a clergyman — Goldsmith's 
Country Parson — Addition to our library — Pilgrim's Progress 
Barclay's Dictionary, Burkitt's Notes — Oldest brother con- 
vinced of sin — Authentic narrative preferable to fiction — Nov- 
elists liars by profession 49 

CHAPTER IV. 

VILLAGE SPORTS — SACRED MUSIC. 

Amusements of a countiy village — Moral changes in fifty years 
— How our forefathers used to spend the holidays — Sacred 
music, vocal and instrumental — Recollection of former times 
■ — Montgomery on "Departed Days" — Music often perverted 
from its proper use 58 



12 



CONTENTS. 



CHAPTER V. 

CONVERSION OF MY OLDEST BROTHER. 

Steps that led to my brother's conversion — Mother's illness and 
conversion — Morning and evening prayer established — Reli- 
gion in the family Page 68 

CHAPTER VI. 

PROGRESS OF RELIGION IN OUR FAMILY. 

The first Methodist preacher I ever heard — Preachers on the 
Bedford circuit — The Sabbath becomes the "pearl of days" — 
Pleasant and painful reminiscences — The music of church 
bells — Childhood and youth a pleasant part of life — No place 
like home — No season like that of youth — Heaven better than 
earth 73 

CHAPTER VH. 

THE LAST OF MY SCHOOL-BOY DAYS. 

A school without a schoolmaster — A country tavern — Singing — 
Linn?eus and the furze blossom — English beans in blossom — 
Making hay — Master Eddy— Mr. Samuel Copleston — "Disap- 
pointment laughs at hope's career" 88 



CHAPTER Vm. 

FAREWELL TO HOME. 

A friend's family in Ampthill — No Methodists there — Little vital 
religion — Silent meetings — A Baptist preacher — Baptist deacon 
— Oaks of Ampthill Park — Did Sir Philip Sidney write his Arca- 
dia in a pear-tree ? — John Bunyan, Rev. Legh Richmond, John 
Howard, &g. — Hardships — The shopman and the soldier — The 
sailor-boy and the storekeeper's boy compared — Boy's labors 
increase — Difficulties lessen, promotion follows — Friends at 
Lidlington — No reading of newspapers allowed in stores— In- 
different books — Too much business and too little help — A 
lovely family — A composer of music — A juvenile letter-writer 
well employed 100 



CONTENTS. 



13 



CHAPTER IX. 

METHODISM IN AMPTHILL. 

Kemarkable dream — The "blind restored to sight — Rev. Messrs. 
Brownell, Theobald, M'Laaghlin, and Cheverton — Lord Sid- 
mouth's bill for the suppression of lay preaching — Dedication 
of the Methodist chapel in Ampthill — The first Sunday school 
in Ampthill — The school prospers, and religion revives — Eev. 
Messrs. Bradnack, Phoenix, Gostick, Eland, and Hall — Local 
preachers and exhorters Page 128 

CHAPTER X. 

LICENSED TO PREACH. 

The first Encyclopedia I ever saw — Leach's anthems — Wragg's 
(Juets, parlor concerts — First attempt at exhortation — An er- 
ror discovered, confessed, and corrected— Change of circuit 
preachers— Local preachers' fare — Rev. Messrs. Ransom, Ar- 
mett, and Hague — A Christmas prayer — Secret prayer the 
means of saving a house from fire 143 

CHAPTER XI. 

FAREWELL TO AMPTHILL. 

One week in London — Three months at Rugby — An officious 
doctor, an incensed brother, an aggrieved stranger — Visit to 
Lutterworth, the residence of John Wiclif — Visit to the Uni- 
versity of Oxford — Farewell to Rugby— A new chapel opened 
at Leicester — Messrs. Watson, Bunting, Newton, Lessey, Robt. 
Hall — Rev. Thos. Robinson, of Leicester — Mr. Tansur 158 



CHAPTER XII. 

TWO YEARS' RESIDENCE IN DERBY. 

Notices of Derby — Episcopal churches — St. Peter's church — The 
silver penny and its fruits — The first Methodist church in 
Derby — Ancient nunneries, the silk mill, and other curiosities 
— Noah Bullock and his three sons, Shem, Ham, and Japheth— 
The men and women sit apart in Derby chapel — Rev. Joseph 
Taylor, Sen., and Rev. E. Oakes — Mr. Taylor's preaching — 
Band meeting — Local preachers' association — Rev. Theophi- 
lu3 Lessey — John Hackett, Quinton Reynolds, Rev. William 



14 



CONTENTS. 



Leach — Preachers' visit to the conference in Sheffield — Appa- 
rition and conversion — Return from conference — Public execu- 
tion at Derby — Visit to London — Dedication of a new chapel 
in London — Illness in London — Recovery and return — Dedica- 
tion of a Methodist chapel at Northampton — Missionary meet- 
ing in Derby — Rev. Robert Wood — Sickness, solitude, and 
silence favorable to meditation — A narrow escape from drown- 
ing — Anniversary at Derby — Mr. Newton preaches three times 
— Farewell to Derby— Stay in London Page 172 

CHAPTER XIIL 

FAREWELL TO MY NATIVE LAND. 

Credentials — Brother's anxiety — Dr. Humphrey's testimony to 
the great wealth of England — The ocean affords a fine picture 
of the sublime 212 

CHAPTER XIV. 

VOYAGE ACROSS THE ATLANTIC. 

Dangers often attend the mariner — Exhaustless riches of the 
ocean — How we spent the first Sabbath on shipboard — A 
storm at sea — Sailor killed and buried in the deep, reflections 
— Pleasing incident — Captain Wilson and the ship Duff- 
Gorgeous sunset and splendid sunrise — Curious calculations 
of an old gentleman respecting the length of our voyage.. -221 

CHAPTER XV. 

HALIFAX, NOVA SCOTIA. 

The voyage is grievously protracted— We land at last in Nova 
Scotia — Description of Halifax — Kind treatment there — Rev. 
Messrs. Black, Dunbar, and Bennett — Extracts from my jour- 
nal — Departure, and second voyage 238 

CHAPTER XVL 

NEW-LONDON AND NEW-YORK. 

First Sabbath in the States — A mistake respecting the Methodist 
Episcopal Church — Rev. Asa Kent, W. Bentley, and others — 
Thanksgiving — Governor's Proclamation — Description of New- 
London— Farewell to Connecticut— Captain Howard — Rev. 
Joshua Soule— First Sabbath in New-York 250 



MY YOUTHEUL DAYS. 



CHAPTER I. 

MY NATIVE PLACE. 

I WAS born in the parish of Stewkley, in the 
county of Buckingham, England, on Thurs- 
day, June 2d, 1791. My ancestors were 
Episcopalians, and strict observers of the 
outward forms of the Established Church ; 
consequently they took care to inform me 
that I was born on Holy Thursday, which, 
according to the calendar, is the day to be 
observed in commemoration of the ascension 
of our Lord and Saviour Jesus Christ. The 
three days preceding are called Rogation 
days, from the extraordinary prayers and 
supplications which, with fasting, were at 
this time offered by devout Christians." I 
make no particular account of these things 
any further than that they have often re- 



16 



MY YOUTHFUL DAYS. 



minded me, since I was called to tlie work of 
the ministry, that I ought to be a man of 
prayer, and holy in all manner of conversation. 

It might, perhaps, savor of national pride 
to say, that I regard it as a peculiar favor, 
and am truly thankful that it pleased Al- 
mighty God, the wise disposer of all human 
events, that I should receive my being and 
birth, and the first rudiments of my educa- 
tion, in Great Britain ; for though I by no 
means approve of the crimes of which some 
of my countrymen have been guilty, yet I 
cannot refuse my homage to that little 
island, which for a thousand generations 
has been, and for a thousand reasons is, 
" the glory of all lands. England is rich 
in commerce, and in agriculture unparal- 
leled ; in manufactures, and in useful dis- 
coveries, she surpasses most nations on 
earth ; in ancient, modern, and sacred liter- 
ature she is pre-eminent; and in the arts 
and sciences, with slight exceptions, unri- 
valed. As a nation she is magnanimous 
in war, and in p^ace generous to a fault. 
She is wise in politics, in trade honorable ; 
in civil jurisprudence pure and uncorrupt; 



MY NATIVE PLACE. 



17 



in religion she may be considered as the 
safeguard of Europe; and in works of charity 
the good Samaritan to the whole world. 

This is not the place to institute a com- 
parison between the mother and her daugh- 
ter — between that country and this — but I 
hope I may say, without offense, if the 
daughter be wise, the mother cannot be 
very foolish ; if the daughter be beautiful, 
the mother must, at least, have been hand- 
some in her day. Her daughter, as is too 
often the case with other daughters, may 
forget her former obligations — may, per- 
haps, despise her mother because she is old, 
and call her weak, and foolish, and homely, 
because she does not follow her fashions — 
but she ought not to forget that, situated 
as she is, the mother must either rule or be 
ruled — she must be the mistress or the 
slave of all Europe. I acknowledge that 
many of her rulers have been tyrants, that 
some of them have been persecutors of 
the most pious of their subjects, that her 
political and ecclesiastical history have been 
marked with crimes of the deepest dye ; 
but I have observed, with emotions of gra- 
2 



18 



MY YOUTHFUL DAYS. 



titude, that in her worst times, as it was 
with ancient Israel, there was, in the midst 
of her, a remnant, according to the elec- 
tion of grace/' Her religious influence, in 
the operations of the Bible Society, and in 
the good work of missions, is felt in every 
quarter of the globe ; and with all my ad- 
miration of this country, which is not small, 
I seldom look upon a piece of English 
manufacture — from the blessed Bible, in 
which I daily read, to the steel pen with 
which I write — but I advert, with solemn 
gratitude, to that country from which so 
many of the elegancies and comforts of 
domestic life flow. But it is chiefly on a 
religious account that I venerate the land 
of my birth. Had these United States been 
settled and peopled by emigrants from any 
other country than that of the Pilgrim 
Fathers, they would not have been what 
they now are — free and independent States 
— one great and growing Eepublic I The 
Protestant religion, the English Bible, and 
the elements of British law and literature, 
are the glory and the bulwarks of this 
nation, and my prayer is that she may 



MY NATIVE PLACE. 



19 



" stand fast in the liberty wlierewith Christ 
has made her free/' 

Stewkley, the place of my birth, is about 
twelve miles south-east of Buckingham, fifty 
north of London, and about midway between 
Oxford and Cambridge. The parish church, 
which is a venerable structure, and is said 
to have been built in the time of the Nor- 
mans, stands nearly in the centre of the 
town, and about the middle of the village. 
From the top of the tower is one of the finest 
views in that part of the country, bounded 
on the south by the Chiltern hills, on the 
north by Whaddon Chase — a forest about 
five miles in length, and one in breadth — 
on the east by three towns, called Great 
Brickhill, Little Brickhill, and Bow Brick- 
hill, and by a ridge of hills twelve miles to 
the west. Within this area lie nineteen or 
twenty towns and villages, the chief of 
which is Leighton Buzzard, which is graced 
with a lofty church spire. All the other 
places are ornamented with parish churches, 
built of stone, and furnished with bells. In 
some of the towns, also, might be seen a 
Methodist chapel ; but when I was born 



20 



MY YOUTHFUL DAYS. 



such accommodations were, in tliat county, 
very few and far between. Now they are 
to be found in almost every village. 

The fields of Stewkley, when I was a boy, 
were uninclosed, — that is, not laid out in 
compact farms, and fenced as they now are. 
In the cultivation of their fields the farmers 
divided them into three sections — one for 
wheat and rye ; another for barley, oats, 
peas, beans, and turnips ; and the other was 
always kept fallow. By this means every 
acre of ploughed land had rest once in three 
years, during which time it was well ma- 
nured. This process rendered the soil ex- 
tremely fertile, and the crops, in general, 
were very abundant. The fields being 
uninclosed, the lands were laid out in 
ridges, and divided by furrows, and each 
owner's tract or section was separated from 
his neighbor's by a border, or designated 
by a land-mark. It will be recollected that 
the words ''fallow, field, furrow, ridge, bm^der, 
and land-mark,^ ^ are Scriptural ; but I never 
saw in any other part of the world so per- 
fect an illustration of them as in the parish 
where I was born. The whole township 



MY NATIVE PLACE. 



21 



was well supplied with the purest water, at 
a trifling depth below the surface, though 
there was not a single stream in it large 
enough to turn a mill of any considerable 
size. The meadows and small lots lay near 
the village, and the pastures lay by the 
small brooks in the open fields, between the 
cultivated lands. The sheep, and larger 
cattle, were turned into the pastures about 
the 23d of May, and were kept from injur- 
ing the grain by cowherds and shepherds. 
The time of sheep-washing and shearing 
was one of great merriment and feasting; 
and the season of hay-making, which gener- 
ally occupied the month of June and part of 
July, when the days are from sixteen to 
seventeen hours long, was one of pleasant 
toil and good cheer. The " appointed weeks 
of harvest'^ were also a very busy season, 
and when the weather was fine, a very joy- 
ous one, both for the farmer and his men. 
Tn the time of harvest the poor people were 
allowed to glean in the fields, after the 
manner of Euth in the field of Boaz; only 
they must not go among the reapers, but 
wait until the wheat was bound up in 



22 



MY YOUTHFUL DAYS. 



sheaves, and set up in shocks; and they 
must be careful to keep their hands from 
picking and stealing/^ as the catechism 
says, while they were allowed to go among 
the shocks and gather up the precious 
grain, that fell from the hand of the reaper, 
as he thrust in the sickle, and filled his hand 
with the straight and tall, or tangled wheat 
and rye. 

When I was between seven and ten years 
of age, being exceedingly fond of out-door 
exercise, there being no school in the village 
during the summer season, my parents 
allowed me the pleasure of going into the 
fields, with others, and of " gathering up 
the golden grain in the way that was 
common in those days. 

Some families would send three or four 
gleaners into the field, who, if they were 
industrious, would pick up of loose grain, an 
ear at a time, sufiicient, when beaten out, 
and ground into flour, and made into bread, 
to supply the wants of a small family for 
some months. Early in the morning, Avhile 
the dew was on the grass, and the skylark, 
the goldfinch, the cuckoo, and others of the 



MY NATIVE PLACE. 



23 



feathered tribes, were chanting their melo- 
dious song, have I joined the jolly groups 
of gleaners plodding their cheerful way to 
the harvest field ; and often have I toiled 
with them all the long forenoon, till we 
were overcome with heat and hunger, and 
reminded by the altitude of the sun, or by 
the quantity which we had gathered, that 
it was time to rest a little. We would then 
regale ourselves, under some shady tree, or 
hawthorn hedge, if there happened to be 
one near by, eat our homely fare, drink 
from the pure stream, or bubbling spring, 
a draught of nature's purest beverage, rest 
ourselves awhile, and then return to our 
pleasing toil, and so continue until the 
shades of evening reminded us that it was 
time to go home. Then, in the cool of the 
day, while the song of the thrush and of 
the blackbird filled the air with sweetest 
melody, or the harvest moon had risen, and 
the nightingale had begun to warble her 
wildest notes, with our shoulders, or rather 
our heads, heavily laden — for we always car- 
ried our burden on our heads — we would 
wend our homeward way, with jocund step, 



24 



MY YOUTHFUL DAYS. 



and deposit in a room appropriated to re- 
ceive it, the product of our day's labor. O 
liappy villagers ! They knew but little of 
the cares of life, less of the perplexities of 
trade, still less of the din of politics, and 
nothing of the snares and corruptions of 
large cities and seaport towns. All their 
study seemed to be to gain an honest liveli- 
hood, and provide for themselves and their 
children the necessaries of life. It was of 
such persons, and such scenes as these, that 
the humble bard of Sliefford sung in the 
following simple strains : — 

A glorious sight, if glory dwells below, 
Where heaven's munificence makes all the show ; 
Where every cottage from the plenteous store 
Receives a burden nightly at its door ; 
And ere sweet summer bids its long adieu, 
And winds blow keen where blossoms lately grew, 
The bustling day and jovial night must come. 
The long-accustomed feast of Harvest HomeJ^ 

Bloomfield' s Farmer^ s Boy, 

The English poets, from time immemo- 
rial, have sung the beauties of nature, as 
displayed in the flower-garden and the field 
throughout the various seasons of the year ; 
and it is well that they have, for surely 



MY NATIVE PLACE. 



26 



nothing can exceed the loveliness of those 
landscape beauties and rural scenes for 
which that favored isle is confessedly pre- 
eminent. In the flower-garden the snow- 
drop, the daffodil, the crocus, the polyan- 
thus, the wall-flower, the stock-jilly, the 
pink, the carnation, and many others of 
Flora's tribe, seem to vie with each other 
for beauty and fragrance ; and in the fields 
and meadows, the daisy, the violet, the cow- 
slip, and the primrose, appear to strive to 
outdo each other in regaling the senses of 
the traveler and the beholder. The glory 
of the field, the loveliness of the garden, the 
grandeur of the palace, the neatness of the 
cottage, the music of the feathered tribes, and 
a thousand other things equally pleasing to 
the eye and ear, such as fences all along the 
public roads for miles, made of the prickly 
hawthorn, and all alive with beauty, fra- 
grance, and song — these, when taken toge- 
ther, constitute an assemblage of delights 
too great to be described, too rich to be 
forgotten ; and heightened by the innocence 
of childhood, and the buoyancy of youth, 
as they then were, they almost make me 



26 



MY YOUTHFUL DAYS. 



wish to live that period of my life over 
again. When I think of those scenes, and 
of that land in which they occurred, I 
always languish and sigh to be there." 
If this be weakness, may the Lord pity it ; 
if it be sin, may he forgive it ; and if it be 
a virtue, may he reward it.'" 

" " The taste of the English in the cultivation of the 
land, and in what is termed landscape gardening, is 
unrivaled. Nothing can be more imposing than their 
park scenery. But what most delights me is the cre- 
ative talent with which the English decorate the 
unostentatious abodes of middle life. The rudest 
habitation, the most unpromising and scanty portion 
of land in the hands of an Englishman of taste, be- 
comes a little paradise. The residence of people of 
fortune and refinement in the country has diffused a 
degree of taste and elegance in rural economy, that 
descends to the lowest class. The very laborer, with 
his thatched cottage, and narrow slip of ground, at- 
tends to their embellishment. The trim hedge, the 
grass- plat before the door, the little flower-bed, bor- 
dered with snug box, the woodbine trained up against 
the wall, and hanging its blossoms about the lattice, 
the pot of flowers in the window, the holly, providen- 
tially planted about the house to cheat winter of its 
dreariness, and throw in a gleam of summer to cheer 
the fireside — all these bespeak the influence of taste, 
flowing down from the high sources, and pervading 
the lowest level of the public mind. If ever lover, as 



MY NATIVE PLACE. 



27 



I was the youngest of my father's sons, 
and the ninth in regular succession ; and 
though the love of my parents had been 
divided and subdivided so many times, 

poets sing, delights to visit a cottage, it must be the 
cottage of an English peasant. 

"The proneness to rural life among the higher 
classes has had a salutary effect upon the national 
character. English gentlemen, instead of the softness 
and effeminacy which characterize the men of rank 
in some countries, exhibit a robustness of frame, and 
freshness of complexion, which I am inclined to attri- 
bute to their living so much in the open air, and 
pursuing so eagerly the invigorating recreations of 
the country. 

" The effect of this devotion of elegant minds to rural 
occupations has been wonderful on the face of the 
country. A great part of the island is level, and 
would be monotonous, were it not for the charms of 
culture; but it is studded and gemmed, as it were, 
with castles and palaces, and embroidered with parks 
and gardens. It does not abound in grand and sub- 
lime prospects, but rather in little home-scenes of 
rural repose and sheltered quiet. Every antique 
farm-house and moss-grown cottage is a picture ; and 
as the roads are continually winding, and the view 
shut in by groves and hedges, the eye is delighted by 
a continual succession of small landscapes of capti- 
vating loveliness. 

" The great charm, however, of English scenery, is 
the moral feeling that seems to pervade it. It is 



28 



MY YOUTHFUL DAYS. 



yet tliere was still left enougli for all, and 
enoiigli for each, certainly enough to enable 
them to take good care of me. The oldest 
and youngest of our numerous family were 
girls, but Providence saw fit to leave me, 
and five older brothers, to grapple with the 
ills of life, without the softening influence 
of a sister's love, or the charms of female 
manners, except those of our mother and 
cousins, to give polish to our rusticity, or 

rtssociated in the mind with ideas of order, of quiet, 
of calm and settled principles of hoary usage, and 
reverend custom. 

"It is a pleasing sight on a Sunday morning, when * 
the hells are sending their sober melody across the 
quiet fields, to behold the peasantry in their best 
finery, with ruddy faces and modest cheerfulness, 
thronging tranquilly along the green lanes to church ; 
and it is also pleasing to see them in the evenings, 
gathering about their cottage doors, and appearing 
to exult in the humble comforts and embellishments 
which their own hands have spread around them. 
It is this sweet home feeling, this settled repose of 
affection in the domestic scene, that is, after all, 
the parent of the steadiest virtues and purest enjoy- 
ments. 

" ' 0 friendly to the best pursuits of man, 
Friendly to thought, to virtue, and to peace. 
Domestic life in rural pleasures pass'd.^ 

Washington Living's Rural Life in England, 



MY NATIVE PLACE. 



29 



even the tinge of chivalry to our deeds of 
noble daring. The want of sisters was 
always a source of grief to me. 

Fate, or rather Providence, decreed that 
I should be born, as I have stated, on the 
second day in the first of the summer 
months, when all nature is in her gayest 
attire. My birth-day, of course, always 
occurred when the fields were clothed with 
an emerald verdure, and the numerous 
flowers in the gardens of both rich and 
poor filled the air with the sweetest odors, 
and the fruit-trees were thickly loaded with 
ripening and delicious fruit. The goose- 
berry is a fruit held in high estimation in 
England. There it grows to perfection, 
and is found in almost every poor man's 
garden. My father had several kinds in 
his, and my good mother, as regularly as 
my birth-day returned, took care to furnish 
the table with plenty of green peas and a 
gooseberry pudding. It was probably owing 
to these circumstances that I became pas- 
sionately fond of summer scenes, and, for a 
long time, had a dread of, and dislike to, 
the cold and dreariness of winter. 



30 



MY YOUTHFUL DAYS. 



The same unerring Providence which or- 
dained the time of my birth ^' fixed the 
bounds of my habitation/^ and cast my lot 
among the inhabitants of a country village^ 
in one of the finest portions of the habitable 
globe, and under the auspices of one of the 
best governments then existing. It cer- 
tainly was not a matter of choice with me 
when, and where, and of whom I should be 
born; but it is a matter of thankfulness 
that all these things happened as they did. 

My father was a sober and industrious 
mechanic, and taught four of his sprightly 
sons the same craft which he had learned 
of his forefathers, which was that of a 
wheelwright, milhvright, wagon-maker, and 
carpenter, all joined in one. It w^as never 
intended that I should work at my father's 
trade ; but as I was often in the shop, waiting 
on my father and brothers, doing errands 
for them, and seeing them work, until I was 
fifteen years of age, I acquired considerable 
knowledge of the use of tools, which has 
often been a source of pleasure, and some- 
times of profit to me since that period. 

My father's estate, though small, was 



MY NATIVE PLACE. 



31 



very pleasantly situated near the middle 
of the village, in sight of the old Episcopal 
church, and but a few rods from the spot 
where now stands an elegant Methodist 
chapel. It was on the east side of a road 
running north and south, and consisted of 
a lot of ground, on which stood a two-story 
dwelling-house, a workshop, a carriage- 
house, and wood-barn, and several trees. 
In front of the house, and facing the west, 
Avere a court-yard and beautiful flower-gar- 
den ; and on the south side of the workshop 
stood several houses of industry, or habita- 
tions for bees. These industrious little 
insects were a source of pleasure and profit 
to the faniily. Early in the season, or as 
soon as the flowers began to bloom, one 
might hear, from within the hive, the de- 
lightful hum of a busy population ; and as 
soon as the crocus, the polyanthus, and 
others of the floral tribe, began to open 
their petals to the morning sun, the bees 
might be seen regaling themselves among 
the fragrant delights of our little garden. 
My oldest brother was considered proprietor 
of that little paradise, and I, being the 



32 



MY YOUTHFUL DAYS. 



youngest of the family, was employed, morn- 
ing and evening, as a sort of journeyman 
gardener, to take care of the same. 

In the door-yard was an excellent well 
of water, and near it stood an old apple- 
tree, which bore a very enviable species of 
fruit, which was sometimes a source of 
temptation to mischievous boys passing that 
way. Between the two front windows of 
our ancient family dwelling grew a sweet- 
smelling woodbine, or honeysuckle, whose 
thrifty branches reached almost to the eaves 
of the house. At the south-west corner 
grew a choice grape-vine, which my father 
cultivated, and pruned, Avith great care. It 
was fastened to the sides of the house facing 
the south and Avest, and bore some of the 
most delicious white grapes I ever tasted in 
my life, and it often reminded me of the 
words of Christ, I am the vine, ye are the 
branches. John xv, 1. At the south end 
of the house grew two famous plum-trees, 
which also yielded the best kind of fruit. 
At the south-east corner of the lot stood a 
thrifty willow, from whose young branches 
I used to manufacture whistles, without 



MY NATIVE PLACE. 



33 



paying too dear for them, for tlie wood cost 
me nothing, and the trouble of making 
them was not great. On the northern 
boundary-line grew a venerable elm, the 
lofty and wide-spread branches of which 
might be seen at the distance of five or six 
miles. If we had only had one lofty pine, 
the picture would have been complete. 

Our kitchen garden w^as back of the 
house, and was surrounded with a strong 
fence of hawthorn, which was trimmed every 
year, and grew so thick that one might lay 
a board on the top of it, and walk on it 
from end to end. In the spring of the year 
it put forth leaves and blossoms, and young 
shoots, and was very odoriferous withal. 
The little birds used to build their nests 
within its shady retreat, out of the way of 
rude boys, who, though prone to rob the 
birds of their eggs, would seldom adventure 
their hands within its thorny recesses. In 
our kitchen-garden stood two apple-trees, 
one of which bore two kinds of fruit, the 
other one, and both excellent in their kind. 
Beside the apple-trees, there were two kinds 
of plums, three of gooseberries, |)hree of 



34 



MY YOUTHFUL DAYS. 



currants, two of nuts, and all of tlie best 
kind. My brother Daniel was the gardener 
in this department, and occasionally hired 
me as an assistant. He was an excellent 
economist, and by his good management 
kept the family well supplied with a great 
variety of vegetables, early and late, pure 
and good. I was a dow^iright enemy to 
weeds and rubbish of all kinds, and as great 
a lover of vegetables, fruits, and flowers. 
Early and late would I do my part in cul- 
tivating the one kind, and as diligently 
w^ould seek to destroy and exterminate the 
other. 

The ploughed lands in Stewkley iields 
were extremely fertile, and the meadows 
surprisingly luxuriant. Not a stump, nor 
a stone, was to be seen in the pastures, nor 
a brier nor bramble allowed to grow in the 
meadows. The crops of hay and grain did 
most amply repay the tiller's toil, and in 
quantity as well as quality were such as I 
have seldom seen elsewhere. The farmers 
were a plain, simple, honest race of men, 
and the mechanics and laborers were much 
like them. Of professional men, such as 



MY NATIVE PLACE. 



35 



lawyers and doctors, we liad none in the 
village. Tiie almost uninterrupted health 
of the people did not require the skill of a 
physician, or the aid of medicine, except 
occasionally, and the general tranquillity 
of the place left but little room, and seldom 
gave occasion for the exercise of forensic 
learning. Our country dames and damsels, 
(the term lady being correlative to that of 
lord, was not in use among us, except in 
reference to the titled nobility,) though by 
no means angels, either in their own opi- 
nion or that of others, were as handsome, 
as virtuous, and as kind, as any in the 
realm. Indeed, of the w^iole community, men, 
women, and children, it might be said — 

"Far from the madcVning crowd^s ignoble strife 
Their sober wishes never learned to stray ; 

Along the cool sequestered vale of life 

They kept the noiseless tenor of their way.^' 

0, it is delightful to look back on the 
days of childhood, when the heart was sus- 
ceptible of every tender impression, and 
feelingly alive to every affection ; when my 
mother's image was to me the dearest on 
earth, and her voice of approbation, when 



36 



MY YOUTHFUL DAYS. 



she spoke well of my boyish deeds, was 
sweeter to my ear than the warblings of 
the nightingale ; when a small reward of 
merit from my father's hand, or a kind 
word from an elder brother, or a small pre- 
sent from a neighbor, was to me of more 
value, and more highly prized, than a much 
larger donation in after years. Often, on 
the bed of sickness, when sleep has departed 
from my eyes, as though my mind had lost 
its hold on the passing events of the present 
time, and had sprung back to the scenes of 
my childhood, have I reviewed, and reviewed 
again, the pleasures of those bygone days ; 
and the remembrance of them has been 
more reviving to my fainting spirit, than 
the fragrance of the sweetest flower to the 
languishing body, when sinking beneath the 
weight of disease. At such seasons, when 
the images of departed friends would seem 
to stand before the eye of my mind, the 
words of the poet would come forcibly to my 
recollection : — 

Can memory forget the hours 
That I have spent with you ? 
As soon might fragrance quit the flowers, 
Or flowers refuse the dew I 



MY NATIVE PLACE. 



As soon might Sol withhold his rays, 
Or rivers cease to flow, 
As I should e'er forget the days 
That I have spent with you ! 

" As soon might stars refuse to shine, 
Or the moon her light to impart ; 

For the fond affections now entwine 
Around my pensive heart. 

As soon might beauty leave the flowers 
Or the earth refuse the dew, 
As I should e^er forget the hours 
That I have spent with you V 



38 



MY YOUTHFUL DAYS. 



CHAPTER 11. 

THE CHURCH SERVICE IN ENGLAND. 

As tliere was no other Cliiircli in the village 
in which I was born, bnt the one established 
by law, my ancestors, for many generations, 
were members of that Church; and as my 
maternal uncle was a minister of that an- 
cient and respected order, and as I knew no 
other way of worshiping God, it is not to 
be ATondered at if I, like many others, en- 
tertained prejudices and predilections in 
favor of the Episcopal form. Being accus- 
tomed, from my earliest infancy, to listen 
to the sound of the church-going bell,^^ to 
put on my best clothes, and to go to church 
with my parents on a Sunday morning, I 
very early indulged a feeling of respect, and 
even reverence, for all that pertained to the 
Church service. And this I may say with- 
out fear of contradiction, though I never 
heard an extemporaneous prayer or sermon 
within those consecrated walls, or knew of 
the conversion of a soul from a course of 
sin to a life of holiness, within the bounds 



THE CHURCH SERVICE IN ENGLAND. 39 



of the congregation, I never saw anything dis- 
orderly or irreverent in the time of service, in 
the old Episcopal church in which I Avas bap- 
tized. When the appointed hour arrived, the 
minister, clad in canonical vestments, came in. 
Every eye was fixed on him as he ascended 
the sacred desk ; the greatest silence pre- 
vailed in the congregation ; every ear was 
attentive to the first words that fell from 
liis lips, and every tongue was ready to 
respond, at the proper time, to the prayers 
Avhich he offered. The old parish clerk had 
a most melodious and powerful voice, and 
was always sure to let every one hear him 
say, when it came to his turn to repeat it, 
Glory be to the Father, and to the Son, 
and to the Holy Ghost,^' or the other part of 
the sentence, " As it was in the beginning, 
is now, and ever shall be, world without 
end. Amen.'^ The aged members, also, 
were as zealous to pronounce with an audi- 
ble voice those words in the excellent Lita- 
ny, at the end of every petition, Good 
Lord, deliver us while the young people, 
wlio wished to be thought respectable citi- 
zens, and good Christians, were always 



40 



MY YOUTHFUL DAYS. 



careful to know where to find the place in 
the Prayer-book for the Collect/^ the 

Epistle/^ or the Gospel'^ for the day. 
Indeed, it was often a matter of conversa- 
tion in our family, on Sunday morning, 
before we went to Church, what day it was, 
whether Advent, or Epiphany, or Midlent, 
or Trinity, for we thought it a shame not 
to know what service was required of us on 
any and every day throughout the year. 
If it were Midlent Sunday, the plum-pud- 
ding was about as certain as the day, unless 
mother forgot it, which was seldom the case. 
If it were Shrovetide, we boys were as sure 
to have eaJces on Tuesday, as the Dutch 
people in this country are to have plenty 
of boiled eggs on Easter day. But the 
reason of all this is so buried in the rubbish 
of antiquity, that I never in my life knew 
where to find it. 

Psalm-singing was an important part of 
the service in the Episcopal Church, and as 
nearly all in my father's family were per- 
formers, either vocal or instrumental, in 
that part of public worship, we were all 
anxious to be ready to render assistance in 



THE CHURCH SERVICE IN ENGLAND. 41 

tlie time of need. My father, in liis early 
days, had played the oboe, my eldest bro- 
ther the clarionet, another the flute, and 
another the basoon, Avhile it fell to my lot, 
having a good treble voice, to study and 
practice that part of sacred harmony which 
suited my juvenile powers. The good old 
clerk was always careful to say, at the be- 
ginning, " Let us sing to the praise and the 
glory of God,'^ while the choir, on the other 
hand, after service, if they did well, were 
as careful to take the praise to themselves. 
This, to a mind purely spiritual, may seem 
a shocking desecration of the most sublime, 
most angelic part of divine worship ; but 
who can tell what allowance the Good Being 
will make for such a poor, imperfect crea- 
ture as sinful man ? 

A modern connoisseur^ if he could hear the 
powerful harmony of a country choir, might 
be disposed to criticise, and justly, too, the 
rude strains of uncultivated genius. But 
after all that might be said on the subject, 
there is a kind of consistency belonging to 
the whole affair, which might be sought for 
in vain in more refined and polished cir- 



42 



MY YOrTHFUL DAYS. 



cles ; the taste of tlie audience, the qiiaint- 
ness of the poetry, the simplicity of the 
melody, the plainness of the harmony, at 
the time referred to, were all in accordance 
Avith the rusticity of the performers. I re- 
member well an anthem taken from the 
fortieth chapter of Isaiah, in which there was 
a counter solo, set to these words, " O Zion, 
that bringest good tidings, get thee up into 
the high mountain ; lift up thj yoice with 
strength, lift it up; be not afraid,^^ in 
which the music was made to correspond 
Avith the words, being of such a character 
that yery few could reach the highest 
notes.^^ The old clerk, howeyer, Avhose 
voice was as well exercised in singing as it 
was in reading prayers, was not frightened 
at such a passage, but with the aid of my 
brother's clarionet, could effectually accom- 
plish his task, to the admiration of all the 
congregation. 

There was another part of the religious 
services in the Episcopal Church which was 
equally interesting, and perhaps more profit- 
able, to little boys and girls : it was '-saying 
the catechism.'' When Easter Sunday came, 



THE CHURCH SERVICE IN ENGLAND. 43 

and the minister called us from our seats 
to " come and say the catechism/' we all 
left our pews, marched into the broad aisle 
in front of the desk, with heads up, and 
hands behind us, all prepared to give the 
proper answers, in an audible voice, so as 
to be heard by the minister and all the 
congTCgation. The good boys and girls 
always got a kind word, and sometimes a 
few pennies from the minister, or from some 
officer in the Church, which encouraged 
them to do their best on such occasions. 
The lessons previously committed to memo- 
ry, and thus repeated, were of singular use 
to me in after life, particularly that part 
in answer to the question — 

" What dost thou chiefly learn by these 
commandments 

''Ansioer. I learn two things: my duty 
toward God, and my duty toward my neigh- 
bor/' 

" Question, What is thy duty toward 
God?'' 

" Answer, My duty toward God is to be- 
lieve in him, to fear him, and to love him 
with all my heart, with all my mind, with 



44 



MY YOUTHFUL DAYS. 



all my soul, and with all my strength ; to 
worship him, to give him thanks, to put my 
Avhole trust in him, to call upon him, to 
honor his holy name, and his word, and to 
serve him truly all the days of my life/^ 

Question, What is thy duty toward thy 
neighbor 

" Anstver. My duty toward my neighbor 
is to love him as myself, and to do to all 
men as I would they should do unto me ; to 
love, honor, and succor my father and 
mother; to honor the king, (or, cJdef magis- 
trate,) and all that are put in authority 
under him ; to submit myself to all my 
governors, teachers, pastors, and masters ; 
to hurt nobody by word or deed ; to be true 
and just in all my dealings ; to bear no 
malice or hatred in my heart ; to keep my 
hands from piehing and stealing, and my 
tongue from lying and slandering ; to keep 
my body in temperance, soberness, and 
chastity ; not to covet or desire other men^s 
goods ; but to learn and labor truly to get 
my own living, and to do my duty in that 
state of life unto ivhich it shall please God to 
call me.^^ 



THE CHURCH SERVICE IN ENGLAND. 45 

These lessons may have lost their effect 
upon thousands, but I do kno^y that they 
were not wholly lost on me. 

Funerals, also, in the Episcopal Church, 
were attended with becoming solemnity. 
The great bell was tolled at the proper 
hour, and when the procession arrived at 
the church-yard, the minister, clad in a 
white surplice of pure lawn, met the corpse, 
borne on men^s shoulders, and the mourners 
following after, with these comfortable words 
upon his lips, " I am the resurrection and 
the life,'' &c. The procession then entered 
the church, and when the company were 
seated in their pews, the thirty-ninth or 
ninetieth Psalm, and part of the fifteenth 
chapter of St, Paul's first epistle to the Cor- 
inthians, with suitable prayers, were read 
with proper solemnity; and frequently a 
psalm or anthem was sung, out of respect 
to the memory of the deceased ; while at 
the grave the appointed service was always 
read, for rich or poor, young or old, with 
the same solemnity and decorum. The last 
service of this kind that I ever attended, in 
my native village, was the funeral of my 



46 



MY YOUTHFUL DAYS. 



revered father. As lie had lived in all 
good conscience'' among his neighbors ; 
been a regular attendant at church all his 
days, but never persecuted his children or 
his neighbors for leaving the Church and 
becoming Methodists ; had supported a nu- 
merous family with small means and great 
respectability ; and as the weather was unu- 
sually fine for the season, his funeral was 
more numerously attended than that of any 
other person, belonging to the village, I 
ever saw. His remains were carried from 
his dwelling to the church, nearly half a 
mile, by six of his neighbors ; the pall was 
borne by six of the most respectable farmers 
in the place ; and a long train of relatives 
and friends followed him to the tomb. The 
singers honored him with that well-known 
psalm, " Since our good friend is gone to 
rest within the silent grave,^^ &c., which, 
though the poetry is not in the best style, 
and the music was but indifferent, w^as in- 
tended as a mark of respect by the choir, 
and so regarded by the family of the de- 
ceased. 

The effect of the Church service upon my 



THE CHURCH SERVICE IN ENGLAND. 47 



youthful mind was most salutary and abi- 
ding. The prayers, as every one acquainted 
with the ritual of the English Church 
knows, are suited to all sorts and condi- 
tions of men.^^ They are expressed in plain, 
dignified, and orthodox terms, and they 
took deep hold of my feelings : they were 
the earliest, and, perhaps, the most powerful 
means of fortifying my mind against the 
errors of Socinianism and infidelity on the 
one hand, and Pelagianism and Antino- 
mianism on the other. The psalms and 
lessons from the Old and New Testament, 
being read every Sabbath, made me fami- 
liar with the sacred volume ; while the 
sermons, if not strictly evangelical as to 
matters of faith and experience, were at 
least practically good, and of a tendency 
calculated to promote charity and good 
works. Had the venerable Church of Eng- 
land retained the spirit and practice of 
apostolical piety, as well as the true 
faith had she retained the " power of 
godliness,^^ as well as the form thereof, 
and exercised a stricter discipline over her 
delinquent members, Puritanism, and Qua- 



48 



MY YOUTHFUL DAYS. 



kerism, and Methodism, in name at least, 
had never been known in that country ; but 
as " the body without the spirit is dead,'^ so 
that Church, being in many parishes desti- 
tute of an evangelical ministry, and bur- 
dened with lifeless members, was dead also. 
It Avas necessary, therefore, that some one 
called and qualified by God, and made a 
minister, not after the law of a carnal 
commandment, but after the power of an 
endless life,^^ should step in, between the 
living and the dead, that the plague of 
immorality might be stayed, and that the 
whole nation mig^ht not perish. 



COURSE OF READING. 



49 



CHAPTER III. 
COURSE OF READING. 

Newspapers, circulating libraries, and Sun- 
day-scliool books had not found their Avay 
into country villages at the time when I 
was born. Our minister did not live in the 
parish, and the schoolmaster and high-con- 
stable were almost the only persons that 
ever saw the Weekly Gazette or the Daily 
Journal. The only books I ever saw in 
school, if my recollection serves me, were 
the Bible, a spelling-book, and a geography. 
The Bible, of course, was our only reading 
book. The spelling-book was but little 
used, and the geography not at all. 

I believe my mother taught me my let- 
ters. At any rate, I well remember she 
furnished me with a horn-booJc, and made 
me take it with me, when I went to school 
to my grandmother. It was not such a 
one as I have since read of in Johnson's 
great dictionary, in the words of the 
poet : — 



50 



MY YOUTHFUL DAYS. 



" To master John tlie English maid 

A horyi-hook gives of ginger-bread ; 

And that the child may learn the better, 

As he can learn, he eats the letter/^ — Prior. 

No; mine was a real hoim-book^ made of a 
thin piece of wood, witli printed letters 
pasted on it, and covered Avitli a piece of 
transparent horn, tlirougli which the letters 
might he seen. A book of this kind would 
last, with care, many years. 

Our family library must haye been yery 
small when I first began to read, and but 
for the death of my uncle, who died when I 
was seyen years of age, I might haye been 
a long time destitute of what some are 
pleased to call "book learning.^^ My 
mother's brother, as before stated, vras a 
minister of the Established Chm-ch. He 
was for some time yicar of Eenhold, in the 
county of Bedford, the ^^lace now occupied 
by the Eey. Mr. Grimshawe, author of the 
Life of the poet Cowper. In that church- 
yard my uncle lies buried, and from the 
epitaph on his tombstone, which was drawn 
up by one who knew him well, I should 
judge that he was a clergyman of yery rare 
qualities, to whom the gloAving lines of 



COURSE OF READING. 



Ol 



Goldsmith would not have been altogether 

inapplicable. Of this fact, however, others 

may be better able to judge than myself. 

I Avill therefore give both, and the reader 

may take which suits him best : — 

" A man lie was to all the country dear, 

And passing rich with forty pounds a year. 

Remote from towns he ran a godly race, 

Nor e^er had changed, nor wished to change his place. 

Unskillful he to fawn, or seek for power 

By doctrines suited to the varying hour : 

Far other aims his heart had learned to prize, 

More bent to raise the wretched than to rise. 

Thus to relieve the wretched was his pride, 

And ev^n his failings lean^l to virtue^s side ; 

But in his duty prompt at every call. 

He watchM, and wept, he prayM, and felt for all. 

And as a bird each fond endearment tries 

To tempt his new-fledged offspring to the skies, 

He tried each art, reproved each dull delay, 

Allured to brighter worlds and led the way.^' 

THE EPITAPH ON MY UNCLE^S TOMB-STONE. 

" His was a character of intrinsic and quiet excel- 
lence. As a son, eminently filial ; as a friend, sincere ; 
courteous, without the usual forms of politeness ; pious, 
without affectation ; and cheerfully resigned under long 
sickness. He adorned the everlasting gospel of Jesus 
Christ, whom he invariably preached, and in whom 
alone he trusted for salvation and glory. ' Behold an 
Israelite indeed, in whom is no guile I' 



52 



MY YOUTHFUL DAYS. 



The late Eev. John Berridge, vicar of 
Everton, the facetious author of " The Chris- 
tian World Unmasked/^ was the particular 
friend of my uncle ; and so was the late 
Eev. Thomas Eobinson, vicar of St. Mary^s, 
Leicester, author of four volumes of Scrip- 
ture Characters. Mr. Eobinson made my 
uncle a present of his works, which, wdth 
several other volumes, after my uncle's 
death, fell into my father's family. 

The acquisition of an evangelical clergy- 
man's library, though small, was of singular 
use to me, and on my youthful mind exerted 
a most salutary influence. Had my uncle 
been an unconverted man — had his library 
been that of a gay and frivolous sportsman, 
or novelist — I might have contracted a love 
for the reading of light trash," instead of 
a reverence for the Holy Scriptures. 0 how 
often have I thought of this, and in view of 
my love of sacred truth, had occasion to say, 
Not unto me, not unto me, but unto Thy 
name, 0 Lord, be the glory." 

The first book in my uncle's library that 
attracted my attention was " Bunyan's Pil- 
grim's Progress." It was an octavo volume, 



COURSE OF READING. 53 

beautifully printed, neatly bound, and orna- 
mented with some " splendid copperplate 
engravings/^ The plates attracted my eye, 
and the story of poor Pilgrim affected my 
heart. At first I thought the story was 
literally true ; afterwards I understood it 
to be an allegory; and since then I have 
found a great part of it to be true in my 
own experience, particularly that part of it 
which describes the burden of sin, and the 
power of the cross — for I had scarcely at- 
tained my thirteenth year, before I could 
with Christian sing — 

Blest cross, blest sepulchre, blest rather be 
The Man that there was put to shame for me/^ 

The next books that Avon my fixed atten- 
tion were three ponderous folios, commonly 
called "Fox's Books of Martyrs.'^ The 
plates in this work were numerous, and 
well executed, and made such a striking 
impression upon my mind as will never be 
eradicated. These were the books that, 
more than all others, tended to excite in 
me an everlasting disgust at overgrown 
power, spiritual intolerance, and ecclesias- 
tical domination. But, thank God, those 



54 



MY YOUTHFUL DAYS. 



times are past, and literature, and Protest- 
antism, free discussion, and an unquench- 
able thirst for liberty, have united their 
salutiferous streams, and are rolling on to 
the healing of the nations. 

Barclay^s Dictionary was another book 
which afforded me constant delight, and 
abundance of instruction. It was a very 
thick octavo volume, and to me, at least, 
answered the purpose of an encyclopedia. 
But the volume which, at that time, ac- 
quired the highest authority and greatest 
celebrity in our little circle, Avas Burkitt^s 
Notes on the New Testament. Nothing 
of the kind had ever made its appearance 
in our family before, and without hesitation 
Burkitt, as a commentator, soon acquired 
the reputation of an oracle. If the preacher 
took his text from the New Testament, 
Burkitt was appealed to, to see if he ex- 
pounded it right ; and whether the preacher 
gave the text a Calvinistic or an Armi- 
nian interpretation, it mattered not, if he 
and Burkitt agreed. Nor was this so much 
to be wondered at, since Burkitt himself 
sometimes leaned to the Arminian side of 



COURSE OF READING. 



55 



the question, and sometimes, perhaps, a 
little too much the other way. 

"Eobinson's Scripture Characters,'^ also, 
were read with great attention, and furnished 
me with a much better view of the biographies 
of the Bible than I ever had before. These full- 
length portraits of the fathers of the human 
race gave me a great liking to sacred 
biography — a subject which I prefer to 
many others, even to this day. 

We had not as yet read any books in 
defense of Methodism; but no sooner had 
my eldest brother been brought under con- 
viction for sin, which was by means of a 
sermon preached at Little Harwood, by an 
Episcopal minister, from the words of the 
prophet Hosea, ix, 5, " What vrill ye do in 
the solemn day?'' than the Homilies of 
the Church of England, Baxter's Call to the 
Unconverted, Alleine's Alarm, Doddridge 
on Eegeneration, Eussell's Seven Sermons, 
Bunyan's Visions of Heaven and Hell, and 
other godly books, found their way into the 
family ; and when my brother had expe- 
rienced religion, the Methodist Magazines, 
Nelson's Journal, Coke and Moore's Life of 



66 MY YOUTHFUL DAYS. 

Wesley, and Benson's Life of Fletcher, were 
added to the library. Several of these 
hooks I read with the same avidity, almost, 
as the former ; for althongh the narratives 
of the prophets and apostles had the sanc- 
tion of inspiration to recommend them, and 
had the first claim to my belief and respect, 
yet I always regarded the experience of 
Christians as admirably calculated to ilhis- 
trate the doctrines of the Bible, the parables 
of our Lord, and the writings of the apos- 
tles, and consequently well adapted to the 
building up of believers on their most holy 
faith. 

Perhaps it was this course of reading in 
my early days that gave me such a decided 
preference for facts instead of fiction. There 
is, doubtless, much of fiction in poetry, but 
then it is fiction of a certain kind, for which 
even a child can make every allowance. 
Every child knows that trees do not speak, 
nor. " birds confabulate,'^ unless it be " in 
fable.'' I admire the poetical genius of 
such men as Spenser, Shakspeare, and Mil- 
ton. The scholar that reads Milton improves 
his classic taste; and the Christian that 



COURSE OF READING. 



57 



reads him, with proper allowance for the 
poetical license taken in all works of ima- 
gination, becomes more and more confirmed 
in the great and leading trnths of the Bible. 
But every child does not know that in order 
to make out a successful comedy the story 
must end in an elopement or clandestine 
marriage; and that in tragedy, marriage, 
or whatever be the principal subject of the 
plot, must end in murder; and that as 
marriage and murder are the most exciting 
subjects in the world, characters must be 
created to fill up the drama: and hence 
novelists are necessarily liars by profession. 



58 



MY YOUTHFUL DAYS. 



CHAPTER IV. 

VILLAGE SPOKTS — SACRED MUSIC. 

Although my parents were members of the 
Established Church, yet as that Church had 
in some measure fallen from her original 
purity, and become very lax in her disci- 
pline — as experimental religion was not in- 
sisted on in the pulpit, nor so much as 
hinted at in the pastoral visits of the minis- 
ter of our parish — it is not to be wondered 
at if the members of our family were 
strangers to the vital power of godliness. 
But though the family altar had never 
been erected, yet my parents endeavored, 
as far as lay in their power, to give us good 
counsel, to set us a good example, and to 
prevent us, by wholesome restraint, from 
following the multitude to do evil. And 
to their praise be it recorded, quarreling, 
fighting, lying, drunkenness, and profane 
swearing, were unknown among us. We 
were always taught that these vices were 
of so vulgar and degrading a character 
that, for the honor of the family, we were 



VILLAGE SPORTS — SACRED MUSIC. 59 



given to luiderstand tliat its escutclieoii 
should never be stained witli so foul a Llot. 
And greatly did it add to our domestic 
happiness that no cruel jealousies existed 
in the minds of my parents ; no corroding 
envies were found among their children ; 
no unhappy disputes occurred between our 
neighbors ; no religious controversies were 
suffered to kindle strifes and animosities 
among them ; nor vexatious law-suits to 
disturb the tranquillity of the village. 

The amusements of the youthful villa- 
gers, with very fevv exceptions, were of such 
a character as neither injured the body nor 
corrupted the mind. They were more like 
the gymnastics of ancient Greece and Eome 
than the enervating and demoralizing plea- 
sures of modern cities. There was neither 
bowling alley nor billiard room in the parish, 
nor theatre, nor play-house, that I know of, 
nearer than Oxford or Cambridge. Dancing, 
card playing, and gaming, were practices 
that belonged to more refined society than 
that of v/hich our rustic neighborhood could 
boast. A lawyer, as already hinted, could 
not subsist within five miles of us ; nor did 



60 



MY YOUTHFUL DAYB. 



any physician, to tlie best of my recollec- 
tion, ever attempt to settle in that healthful 
abode. I never heard of a house being 
burnt, nor of but one robbery, and not of one 
murder in the town, within the memory of 
the oldest inhabitant. Such decided advan- 
tages, in point of happiness and morality, 
does a country village enjoy over the thickly 
populated city, where vice, like the noisome 
pestilence, walketh in darkness, and wasteth 
at noonday. Our summer months were in- 
variably spent in useful toil and athletic 
diversions ; and the long winter evenings 
with our parents at home, or at school with 
our fellows, in the acquisition of useful 
knowledge. At the time of which I now 
speak, prayer-meetings had not been set up, 
for Methodism and modern improvements 
had not yet found their way into the place. 

One would hardly believe, in these days 
of Bible societies, and missionary meetings, 
and Sunday-school anniversaries, that the 
nation which now takes the lead in these 
evangelical enterprises, was, since the days 
of the Eeformation, the most dissolute of 
all the Protestant nations in Europe. In 



VILLAGE SPORTS SACRED MUSIC. 61 



the reign of Elizabetli, " that bright occi- 
deyital star, of most happy memory/' as she 
is called in the dedication to the English 
Bible, one of the writers of that period 
says : "As soon as the Christmas holidays 
(holy days?) had arrived, Avork and care 
were universally thrown aside ; and instead 
of those devotional practices by which other 
countries commemorated the sacred occasion, 
England rang from one end to the other 
with mirth and jollity. Christmas carols 
were trolled in every street ; masquerades 
and plays took possession of houses and 
churches indiiferently ; a Lord of Misrule, 
whose reign lasted from All-Hallows Eve 
[All Saints, Nov. 1] till the day after the 
feast of Pentecost, [Whitsuntide,] was elected 
in every noble household, to preside over the 
sports and fooleries of the inmates; w^hile 
each member prepared himself either to 
enact some strange character, or to devise 
some new stroke of mirth. The towns, on 
these occasions, assumed a sylvan appear- 
ance ; the houses were dressed w^ith branches 
of ivy and holly; the churches were con- 
verted into leafy tabernacles ; and standards, 



62 



MY YOUTHFUL DAYS. 



bedecked with evergreens, were set up in 
the streets, while the young of both sexes 
danced round them. And in this sort they 
go to the church, (though the minister be at 
prayer or preaching,) dancing, and swinging 
their handkerchiefs over their heads in the 
church, like devils incarnate, wdth such a 
confused noise that no man can hear his 
own voice. Then, after this sort, about the 
church they go again and again, and so 
forth into the church-yard, where they have 
commonly their summer-halls, their bowers, 
arbors, and banqueting-houses set up, where- 
in they feast and dance all that day, (Sun- 
day,) and peradventure all that night too.'^ 
— Pictorial History of England, chapter 6, 
p. 861. Harper's Edition, 1846. 

Happily for the village in which I lived, 
these excesses were never practiced there, or 
had become obsolete before I was born. A 
few of the relics of former times, such as 
decorating the church with evergreens at 
Christmas, and paying particular attention 
to certain days and customs, still remained ; 
but Puritanism, and Quakerism, and Me- 
thodism, had stemmed the tide of wicked- 



VILLAGE SPORTS — SxlCRED MUSIC. 63 



ness, and almost dried up that flood of 
ungodliness which in the sixteenth century 
overspread the land. 

Sacred music, when I was a boy, Avas a 
favorite pursuit among some of the rustic 
inhabitants of our village. The cruel sports 
of olden times had in a great measure dis- 
appeared, but religion, in its life and power, 
had not filled their hearts w^ith its sanctify- 
ing influences. The villagers were too 
virtuous to participate in those fashionable 
vices which stained the banners of our cities, 
and, as yet, too little evangelized to conse- 
crate all their powers to the service of Him 
Avho bought them with his blood. They 
therefore sought diversion in the science of 
sweet sounds, believing, with Shakspeare, 
that— 

" The man tliat hath no music in his soul, 
Nor is not moved with concord of sweet notes, 
Is fit for treasons, stratagems, and spoils.^^ 

Or, at least, acting upon the maxim of 
Plato,— 

*' Gymnastics for the body, music for the mind,^^ — 

they spent their days in useful toil, and 
their evenings in the cultivation of the 



64 



MY YOUTHFUL DAYS. 



voice, and tlie study of music. And as 
profane songs were not in good repute, the 
virtuous and aspiring youtli sought to dis- 
tinguish himself among his country friends, 
either as a vocal or instrumental performer 
at the parish church, on the holy Sabbath. 
In these exercises our family, as before 
noted, took a prominent part, and each of 
us, either on an instrument, or with the 
voice, would, professedly at least, make a 
joyful noise unto the Eock of our salvation.'^ 
Our instruments, probably, were not always 
tuned to perfect unison, neither were our 
voices always in key, but they suited well 
the rude strains of our older poets, the 
cadences of whose verse were often very 
uneven ; and if we pleased not the hyper- 
critical, we always tried to please ourselves, 
and, agreeably to the laws and liberties of 
musicians, always spoke well of our own 
performances. The recollection of those 
last remains of rural simplicity, even now, 
affords me considerable pleasure. Some- 
times I imagine I can almost hear the old 
village clerk, in his peculiar twang, give 
out the first line of one of David^s Psalms, 



VILLAGE SPORTS — SACRED MUSIC. 65 



" old version/^ at tlie commencement of tlic 
singing service, prefacing it, as lie always 
did, Avith *'Let us sing to the praise and 
gloary of God,'^ giving to the word glory that 
peculiar sound which was common among 
country people in those days. And then, 
again, I seem to hear the strong blast of 
our best performers, who always sounded 
the key-note on their wind instruments; 
and the treble, tenor, counter, and bass 
notes of our well-trained vocalists, "echoing 
through the long-drawn aisle, and fretted 
vault^^ of that ancient church, whose pillars 
and turrets, according to the best accounts, 
had glistened in the summer's sun, and 
stood the wintry blasts of at least nine 
hundred years. And then I think again 
of the words of my favorite bard — 

" O days forever fled, forever dearj^ 

" Joys of my early hours ! 

The swanows on the wing, 

The bees among the flowers, 

The butterflies of spring, 
Light as their lovely moments flew, 
Were not more gay, more innocent than you : 

And fugitive as they, 

Like butterflies in spring, 

' 5 



66 



MY YOUTHFUL DAYS. 



Like "bees among the flowers, 

Like swallows on the wing, 

How swift, liow soon ye pass^l away, 

Joys of my earlyhours V' — Moyitgomery. 

On tlie subject of music, the late Eev. 
Charles Wesley has expressed himself witli 
great propriety in the following stanza : — 

" Music, at first by heaven designM, 
To calm the tumult of the mind. 
When God doth lend his promised aid, 
As Saul was well when David played : 
But when it takes the tempter's part, 
It fondly steals from God the heart ; 
It chases the good Spirit away, 
And courts the evil one to stay/^ 

The sentiments contained in these lines 
are undoubtedly just, and of their propriety 
there can be no doubt, when we consider 
that this most delightful, most exhilarating 
science, has been called in to the aid of 
wantonness and war, mirth and folly, in all 
their dissipating and soul-destroying influ- 
ences. This, however, was not the case in 
my father^s family ; for although the Eng- 
lish nation has been as notorious for its 
love of war and conquest, as some of its 
sovereigns have been for extravagance and 
folly, yet I am. happy to say that none of 



VILLAGE SPORTS — SACKED MUSIC. 67 

my ancestors, of whom I have any know- 
ledge, ever wore the epaulette or drew the 
sword. Martial music and military cos- 
tume had no particular charms for them, 
nor could the allurements of the opera or 
the theatre detain them from their homes a 
single night. 



68 



MY YOUTHFUL DAYS. 



CHAPTER Y. 

CONVERSION OF MY OLDEST BROTHER. 

Mechanics, in some parts of England, are 
mostly musicians, and as nearly all my 
male relations belonged to that useful class 
of society, it is no wonder that I inherit a 
pretty large share of the love of the science 
of sweet sounds. I believe it was no evil 
spirit that allured my oldest brother to a 
Methodist meeting. He was passing by 
the place, and heard singing. It sounded 
a little different from what he had been 
used to hear in the old parish church. In- 
stead of seeing a select number of musicians, 
with their loud-sounding instruments, ele- 
vated fifteen or twenty feet above the 
congregation, he saw a company of plain- 
looking people, all on the same floor, the 
men on one side the room, and the women 
on the other ; the minister, without surplice 
or gown, standing, probably, on a platform, 
or box of wood, which raised him about six 
inches above the level of the floor, behind 



COj^VERSION OF MY OLDEST BROTHER. 69 

an olcl-fasliioned chair, with a high back, 
and a temporary book-board affixed to the 
top of it ; for so our ministers used to stand, 
giving out a hymn, two lines at a time, as 
the custom then was. Who was the preacher 
I know not ; what was the hymn I cannot 
tell ; nor where it happened do I know ; 
but I well recollect hearing my brother 
say that it was the singing that brought 
him into the meeting, and eventually led 
him to join the society. And one thing 
more do I w^ell remember ; it is this : There 
w^as one hymn which the Methodists used 
to sing, in those days, which was a great 
favorite with my brother ; it had in it this 
verse : — 

" May I but find tlie grace, 

To fin an liumble place 
In that inlieritance above, 

My tuneful Yoice I ^11 raise 

In songs of loudest praise, 
And sing thy grace, redeeming Love/' 

And on the supposition that he was under 
conviction for sin, and seeking rest for his 
soul, which I have great reason to believe 
was the case, if the preacher and congrega- 
tion were singing that hymn at the time, 



70 



MY YOUTHFUL DAYS. 



the whole procedure was calculated to make 
a lasting impression on his mind. I can 
easily suppose that " the men sung with all 
their might/^ for they often used to do so 
when they felt well in their minds ; that 
" the women sung the repeats alone/' as 
Mr. Longden says they did in Sheffield when 
he first found his way among the Metho- 
dists ; that the forementioned hymn suited 
my brother's feelings ; and that the text 
and sermon were strikingly adapted to his 
case: and hence he might well conclude 
that the people he had found should be his 
people, and their God his God. 

About this time my mother was taken 
very sick, and for a time was not expected 
to live. She knew that my brother had 
begun to pray in his chamber, and being 
greatly distressed in her mind, she desired 
him to pray with her. He complied with 
her request, as well as he could, and invited 
the preachers, and other pious persons, to 
join with him in this work of faith and 
labor of love. The Lord in mercy heard 
and answered their prayers, restored the 
sick to health, and made her happy in his 



CONVERSION OF MY OLDEST BROTHER. 71 

pardoning love. Morning and evening de- 
votions were now introduced into the family ; 
and though my father and four brothers did 
not yet profess religion, we all complied with 
the good old custom of hneeling in time of 
prayer. W e had been taught this at church ; 
and I believe we should as soon have thought 
of standing on our heads as of sitting down, 
while one was leading the devotions of the 
family. 

Methodism, so called, was now fairly in- 
troduced into our family, and an addition 
was made to our library by the books I 
have mentioned in a former page. Of 
these new books, the most entertaining to 
me was the Journal of that good old sturdy 
Yorkshireman, John ISTelson, who, if he had 
lived in Bunyan^s time, would have passed 
very well for Mr. Standfast, if not for Great- 
heart himself. It was by the circulation of 
such books as these that Methodism took 
such a firm hold upon the minds of the 
people. Literature was not as cheap then 
as it is now. The Society for the Diffusion 
of Useful Knowledge was not then known, 
and the Penny Magazine was not then in 



72 



MY YOUTHFUL DAYS. 



circulation. Noyels, romances, and idle 
tales were not as abundant as they are 
now ; but the reading with which we were 
supplied was of a more pure and healthy 
character than that which is now so dexter- 
ously got up and so extensively circulated. 
In reviewing this part of my life I cannot 
but be thankful that all bad books were 
kept out of my way ; and on the other hand 
I cannot but regret that when I had time, 
and a disposition to read, and was blest 
with a good memory, so few of our standard 
works fell in my way. 

Eeligion, at this period, began to revive 
in the village. My brother was soon made 
leader of a class, and great was his fidelity 
in the cause of his blessed Master. He 
was truly a burning as well as a shining 
light. He reproved sin with some severity, 
but always spoke kindly to the penitent. 
If any were sick, or likely to die, he visited 
them diligently ; and being highly esteem- 
ed, both by the parish minister and the 
people in general, he was permitted to in- 
troduce the practice of singing a hymn at 
the grave of those who died in the Lord. 



PROGRESS OF RELIGION IN OUR FAMILY. 73 



CHAPTER VL 

PROGRESS OF RELIGION IN OUR FAMILY. 

I WAS now about twelve years of age, and at 
times began to feel a strong desire to obtain 
tlie enjoyment of religion. At this period 
there were four traveling preachers on the 
Bedford circuit, within the bounds of which I 
then lived ; and though my heart was not 
fully renewed by the power of divine grace, 
I loved the house of God, the ministers of 
religion, and the means of grace. That 
my heart was depraved there can be no 
question, and yet I cannot recollect the time 
Avhen I did not respect the services of the 
sanctuary, the preachers of the gospel, and 
the word of God. When and by whom 
Methodist preaching was first brought to 
Stewkley I am not able to say. The first 
Methodist minister, of whom I have any 
distinct recollection, was Mr. Thomas Eogers. 
He preached in a barn belonging to Mr. 
Jolm Tomes, and took for his text Acts 
xiii, 41 : " Behold, ye despisers, and wonder, 



74 



MY YOUTHFUL DAYS. 



and perish ; for I work a work in your days, 
a work wliich ye shall in no wise believe, 
though a man declare it unto you/^ This 
Avas when I was about five years old, and 
yet I well remember where he stood and 
how he looked, and, if I mistake not, his 
voice was musical ; at any rate, the words 
of the text were very euphonious to my ear, 
and his manner of pronouncing them very 
pleasant. The next preacher that I dis- 
tinctly recollect was the Eev. Jacob Stanley, 
late president of the British Conference, 
and lately deceased. He preached in a pri- 
vate house belonging to Mr. West. This 
was in the year 1797. 

At that time there were only one hundred 
and six circuits in all England, seven in 
Scotland, and thirty-two in Ireland. Now 
there are four hundred and twenty-six in 
England, fifteen in Scotland, fifty-three in 
Ireland, and eighteen Irish missions, three 
hundred and twenty-four foreign missions, 
and seventy in Canada under the British 
Conference, besides those in the Canada 
Conference, and those in the United States, 
North and South. 



RELIGION IN OUK FAMILY. 75 

But to return to the preachers who were 
on our circuit at the time I experienced re- 
ligion. I thought they were the best in the 
world. The superintendent, or preacher in 
charge, Rev. John Leppington, was an elo- 
quent man, and mighty in the Scriptures ; 
a strict disciplinarian, rather arbitrary in 
his government, and on that account not a 
favorite with the people. The second, the 
Rev. Joseph Hallam, was remarkable for 
the depth of his piety, and the fervency of 
his zeal. He was a good preacher, and un- 
commonly powerful in prayer. The third, 
the Rev. Robert Finney, Avas indeed a wise 
and holy man of God, apparently of a meek 
and quiet spirit, and eminently a son of con- 
solation. The fourth, the Rev. Robert Fil- 
ter, was a young man of very promising 
talent, and his zeal and piety were equal to 
his talents. It v/as the first year of his 
itinerancy, and yet he was so generally ac- 
ceptable throughout the circuit that he was 
appointed a second year, which was not com- 
monly the case with preachers on trial in 
those days. Under the faithful labors of 
these pious ministers the Lord was pleased 



76 



MY YOUTHFUL DAYS. 



to revive his work gloriously on the circuit. 
The flame reached the village where I dwelt. 
Three more of my brothers were converted, 
and last of all, I, being the youngest of the 
family, was brought to the knovvdedge of 
the truth, and to an experience of the sav- 
ing grace of God through Jesus Christ our 
Lord. The process of this change, as near 
as I can recollect, was as follows : Some time 
in the autumn of 1803, when I was between 
twelve and thirteen years of age, hearing 
that there was to be a love-feast at a place 
about five miles from Stewkley, I felt a de- 
sire to go. I had been taught to believe 
that " all holy desires, just counsels, and 
good works proceed from God,^^ and there- 
fore, I think I may say, that the desire to 
go to the love-feast was produced in my 
heart by the Spirit of God. Be that as it 
may, I certainly felt a strong desire, to go, 
and asked my only playmate, Frederick 
Bull, if he would go with me. He consent- 
ed, and we went together. The room in 
which the love-feast was held was part of a 
dwelling-house, fitted up for the purpose. 
The pulpit Avas precisely such a one as I 



RELIGION IN OUR FAMILY. 77 

have described in a former chapter, — an old 
arm-cliair with a book-board fixed to the 
top. Behind this, the preacher stood on a 
platform six or eight inches high, and if 
one of the elders more corpulent than the 
rest, occupied the front part of the chair, 
there was no danger of its tipping over. On 
one side of the room stood a carpenter^s 
bench. This was the gallery for the singers ; 
but though I had always been honored with 
a place in the choir, on ordinary occasions, 
yet at this time I felt as if I had no right 
to obtrude myself in so conspicuous a posi- 
tion ; and feeling withal somewhat diffident, 
I took my stand behind the preacher, as 
much out of sight as possible. A revival 
of religion had commenced on the circuit. 
The preacher was much animated, and the 
brethren and sisters v/ere quite lively, and 
free to speak of the love of God. I do not 
recollect that I felt any particular emotion, 
other than great seriousness of spirit, until 
my oldest 'brother gave in his testimony 
concerning the progress of religion in his 
own soul, and in our family. In doing this 
he was considerably excited himself, and 



78 



MY YOUTHFUL DAYS. 



spoke witli miicli feeling, all which I think 
I could have endured without manifesting 
any signs of special emotion, if he had not 
said : " There is the youngest of the family 
standing behind the preacher.'^ This cut 
me to the heart, and produced feelings 
which I cannot describe — a mixture of 
shame, and fear, and hope. My pride was 
somewhat offended, and yet my spirit was 
humbled. I did not like to be exposed be- 
fore all the congregation, and yet I felt that 
it was just ; for I was among the people of 
God, and I knew that I was not one of them ; 
but, haying gone so far, I did not see that 
any good was likely to ensue if I turned 
back again, and therefore, in the strength 
of divine grace, I resolved to break off at 
once, and entirely, all childish sports and 
foolish plays and evil company. My con- 
viction of sin was not very deep, nor my 
sorrow very pungent. I was rather drawn 
by cords of love than driven by fear, to 
seek the salvation of my soul. I had but 
little knowledge of the way of salvation, 
and all that I could do ivas to cease to do 
evil, and learn to do welL'^ I therefore ab- 



EELIGION IN OUR FAMILY. 79 

stained from all practices whicli I knew to 
be contrary to the word of God, and attend- 
ed on all the means of grace within my 
reach. But there were no protracted meet- 
ings at that time — no prayer meetings after 
preaching — no invitation given to mourners 
to come to the altar for prayers ; hut the 
way in which people experienced religion 
was chiefly in prayer-meetings, class-meet- 
ings, love-feasts, or under the preaching of 
the word, without the aid of those extra 
efforts, which have been used with evident 
success in later times. 

One of the ministers hearing that I was 
under concern of mind, visited our family, 
and in conversation with my father advised 
that I should join the society. My father 
objected on account of my youth; but the 
minister prevailed, and took my name as a 
probationer and seeker. I continued to 
meet regularly in class, but it was three 
months before I obtained the evidence of 
my acceptance with God. It was on a 
Thursday evening, in the month of Novem- 
ber, 1803, after prayer-meeting, that I re- 
tired to my chamber purposely to pray for 



80 



MY YOUTHFUL DAYS. 



the Uessing of pardon. At first I obtained 
no answer. I then went again ; and again, 
the third time, — and as often returned with- 
out success. At length the hour for retir- 
ing to bed arrived. My mother, supposing 
I needed some refreshment, offered me 
something to eat. As I took it in my hand 
I thought within myself, " I will never eat 
again of the bread that perisheth till God 
gives me the bread of life.'^ I did not 
speak the words, but felt as if I were will- 
ing to fast until I obtained the blessing. 
A vow to that elBPect might have been im- 
proper, and God, who knows the heart, did 
not require it of me, even if it had been 
right ; but, seeing the desire of my heart, 
he graciously accepted the will for the deed, 
and in that very moment, when I felt as if I 
were willing to die rather than be deprived 
of the blessing, he instantly spoke peace to 
my soul, and filled me with joy and peace 
in believing. Up to that moment my mind 
was dark, now it was light in the Lord ; 
before, it was burdened, now the burden 
was entirely taken away. The change was 
as great as it was sudden, and glorious as 



RELIGION IX OUR FAMILY. 



81 



it was great. Bofona tliat blessed iiioineiit, 
if an experienced Cliristian, or an able min- 
ister of tlie New Testament, bad told me 
that my sins were forgiven, I miglit bave 
believed it, but I sbould not bave been satis- 
tied as I was now, for now ^' I felt tbat I did 
trust in Cbrist, and an assurance was given 
me tbat be bad taken away my sins, even 
miney and saved 7ne from tbe law of sin and 
deatb.'' 

"Long my imprison'd spirit lay, 

Fast bound in sin and nature's night : 
Thine eye diffused a quickening ray ; 

I woke ; the dungeon flamed with Hght : 
My chains fen off, my heart was free, 
I rose, went forth, and foUow'd thee/^ 

My bappiness was now complete. Tbe 
guilt and burden of sin were removed. Tbe 
fear of deatb and bell was taken away. I 
loved God witb all my beart, and, as far as 
I understood, my neighbor as myself ; or, 
perhaps I bad better say, I felt nothing con- 
trary to love, peace, and joy in tbe Holy 
Ghost. Public worship, family prayer, and 
secret devotion w^ere always pleasant. The 
days of the week glided swiftly and sweet- 
ly awav, and the Sabbath of the Lord was 
6 



82 



MY YOUTHFUL DAYS. 



then, as it always has been since, to me 
" The Pearl of Days^ From six to seven 
o'clock on Sabbath monij in summer, and 
from seven to eight in winter, we had 
prayer-meetings in the Methodist chapel. 
From nine to ten o'clock, (for we had no 
Sunday-school then,) w^as the hour of class. 
At half past ten, at two, and at six, Ave had 
public preaching either by the traveling or 
local preachers. Our circuit preachers were, 
in my estimation, the best that could be, 
and our local preachers, though differing 
greatly among themselves, were very ac- 
ceptable. But the most pleasing of that 
class of disinterested laborers w^as my mo- 
ther's cousin, Mr. John Stonhill. He had 
a pleasant voice, a graceful delivery, and 
Avithal was a very instructive expounder of 
the word of God. On Monday, Tuesday, 
and Thursday evenings we had prayer- 
meetings in different parts of the town ; on 
Wednesday evenings, class-meetings ; and, 
once in two weeks, preaching on Friday 
evenings. ' Our family dwelling was now a 
Bethel. Six out of eight enjoyed religion, 
and the others were seriously disposed. We 



REUGIOX IX OUR FAMILY. 



83 



had much peace before, now it flowed like 
a river. These were times long to be re- 
membered. Eiches did not endanger our 
salvation, nor did poverty repress'^ or 

freeze the genial current of the soul,^^ in 
its holy aspirations after heavenly and di- 
vine things. We had food and raiment, 
and were therewith content. The din of 
politics did not disturb us ; and though the 
demon of war raged throughout Europe, its 
immediate ravao^es did not reach us. Do- 
mestic broils did not break the peace of the 
family, nor controversies that of the Church. 

This happy state of things continued, 
with but little interruption, until I was fif- 
teen years of age, when it fell to my lot to 
bid farewell to my native place, and all the 
clear delights of home. The circuit preach- 
ers have since finished their work and gone 
to their reward. My parents and four 
brothers have taken their leave of this 
world, and the remaining branches of the 
family, with many others since added to the 
number, are separated by oceans, rivers, 
and mountains. The old family mansion 
is occupied by other inmates ; the bees 



84 MY YOUTHFUL DAYS. 



among the Howers/' and " the swallows on 
the wing/^ have long since taken their last 
flight. The fruit-trees, and that venerable 
elm, are cut down and consumed, and the 
whole face of things, as I have since been 
informed, is entirely changed. The little 
chapel, after having been enlarged, has been 
supplanted by a larger one erected in its 
place. The old parish church still stands, 
but those evening bells,^^ which so charmed 
me in childhood and youth, 1 shall probably 
never hear again. 0 ! how I felt not long- 
since , when I heard an English family, 
with two or three others accompanying 
them, sing the following beautiful stanzas, 
in a tune most plaintive and most appro- 
priate to the words : — 

" Those eveuiug bells, those evening bells, 
How many a tale their music tells, 
Of youth, and home, and that sweet time 
When last I heard their soothing chime I 

" Those joyous hours have pass'd away, 
And many a friend that then was gay, 
Within the tomb now darkly dwells, 
And hears no more those evening bells. 

" And soon ^twill be when I am gone, 
Your tuneful peals will still ring on, 



EELTGION IN OUR FAMILY. 



85 



While other bards will walk those dells, 
And sing your praise, sweet evening bells/' 

T. Moore. 

The bells in Stewkley cliurcli were only 
five in number, and not near so musical, or 
rich in tone, as those of Soulbury and Wing. 
These places are about three miles distant 
from Stewldey, one directly south, and the 
other south-east. These bells used to ring 
almost every evening, after harvest, all 
through the fall, and sometimes in winter ; 
and when the air was still, and the wind 
favorable, their music, to me, w^as exceed- 
ingly sweet. 

Forty years have rolled away since I 
bade farewell to those domestic scenes which 
were the joy of my heart during their short 
continuance, and which, to this day, remain 
a source of delightful recollection. They 
were the scenes of my childhood and youth, 
the "joys of my early hours,^^ and, in many 
respects, the most pleasant of my life. The 
ignorance, helplessness, and dangers of in- 
fancy, like the mists of the morning, had 
passed away; the burden and heat of the 
day had not wasted my strength, or weakened 



86 



MY YOUTHFUL DAYS. 



niy courage ; and the cares and infirmities 
of after life, like tlie shadows of approaching 
night, had not yet arrived. Disease had 
not yet begun to prey upon my constitution, 
but I enjoyed the luxury of health in a 
high degree. My mind was active and 
aspiring, and my spirits were often elevated 
beyond measure, which made life a scene 
of exquisite enjoyment. The memory, 
strengthening every day, multiplied past 
pleasures, like the colors in a prism, again 
and again ; and the imagination, always on 
the wing, soared and expatiated in fields 
of fancied delight. Hope, with more than 
magic power, borrowed much from the 
future ; and as cruel " disappointment^^ had 
not yet begun to " laugh at hope's career,'^ 
my cup of joy sometimes was full to over- 
flowing. As to persecution, or outw^ard 
hinderances in the w^ay of religion, I had 
none to endure; and as to the war within, 
of which I have heard some older Christians 
complain, I scarcely knew what it meant. 
If I knew not as much then as I do now, I 
w^as not half as much troubled with anxious 
forebodings, and needless fears, as I have 



RELIGION IN OUR FAMILY. 



87 



been since. The fire of ambition, which, 
probably, some persons mistake for Christian 
zeal, had not yet begun to burn in my 
bones. Neither had that unquenchable 
thirst for fame which, I fear, in too many 
persons, usurps the place of a desire to do 
good, robbed me of my nightly slumbers. 
I had my troubles, no doubt, but was 
neither 

" Crazed with care, nor crossed in hopeless love;'' 

for of those two greatest " ills Avhich flesh 
is heir to,'^ I then knew nothing. But 
those days are gone by, and take them for 
all in all, 

" I shall never look upon their like again.^' 

Let me not, however despond, for there 
is a world — 

" Where skies, eternally serene, 

Diffuse ambrosial balm 

Through sylvan isles forever green, 

O'er seas forever calm : 
While saints and angels kindling in his rays, 
On the full glory of the Godhead gaze, 
And taste, and prove, in that transporting sight, 
Joy without sorrow, without darkness light.'' 

Montgomery. 



88 



MY YOUTHFUL DAYS. 



CHAPTER VII. 

THE LAST OF MY SCHOOL-BOY DAYS. 

Before I proceed to give an account of the 
liarclsliips and privations that befell me 
during my apprenticeship, I must indulge 
myself in recalling a few little incidents 
which I have omitted to mention in the 
foregoing narrative. 

Before I experienced religion I was ex- 
cessively fond of play. But happily for me 
I then lived in a country village, where, 
having but little knowledge of the ways of 
the world, few temptations, and but little 
money to spend, I was mercifully kept from 
the paths of the destroyer. At this period, 
and before I was able to use the axe, the 
chisel, or the plane, as the old schoolmaster 
was dead, and as there was no other school 
in the village, my mother, to keep me out 
of mischief, and for the purpose of improving 
her finances a little, obliged me to learn 
the art of making straw-braid, ^\'hich then 
was a very profitable business ; and as I was 



THE LAST OF MY SCHOOL-BOY DAYS. 89 



promised a share of the profits, I cheerfully 
complied with her behests. My instructress 
in this business was an elderly lady, who had 
been twice married, but had no children. 
In some respects she resembled Shenstone's 
schoolmistress : — 

"Her cap, far whiter than the driven snow, 
Emblem right meet of decency did yield ; 
Her apron, dyed in grain, as blue, I trow, 
As is the hare-bell that adorns the field ; 
And in her hand a sceptre she did wield. — 
Oft noises intermix^ did thence resound 
And learning's little tenement betray. 

Where sat the dame, disguised in look profound, 
And eyed her fairy throng, and twined her wheel 
around. 

One ancient hen she took delight to feed, 
The plodding pattern of the busy dame, 
Y/hich ever and a.non, impell'd by need, 
Into her school begirt with chickens came, — 
Such favor did her past deportment claim; 
And if neglect had lavishM on the ground 
Fragment of bread, she would collect the same ; 
For well she knew, and quaintly could expound. 
What sin it were to waste the smallest crum she 
found. 

Herbs, too, she knew, and well of each could speak, 
That in her garden sipp'd the silvery dew, 
V^liere no vain flower disclosed a gaudy streak, 



90 



MY YOUTHFUL DAYS. 



But lierbs for use,-'' and physic not a few, 
Of gray renown witliin those borders grew ; 
The tufted basil, pun-provoking thyme, 
Fresh baum, and marigold of cheerful hue, 
The lowly gill that never dares to climb, 
And more I fain would sing, disdaining here to rhyme.'' 
Shenstone^s Schoolmistress. 

Four persons, including husband and wife, 
and nephew and niece, constituted the family 
proper ; but there were plenty of domestic 
animals, besides the hen and chickens men- 
tioned in the foregoing lines, belonging to 
the establishment. The husband of my 
instructress kept a small tavern, well known 
by the sign of the King's Head. He brewed 
his own beer, kept a very orderly house, 
and lived Avell. There was no bar-room, 
properly speaking, for he sold but very 
little liquor, and, in fact, it might be called 
a temperance tavern. Had it been other- 
wise, my parents would not have placed me 
there. The customers were mostly farmers 
and mechanics, and though they drank 
beer, they did it very moderately. They 
were, if I may so speak, too virtuous, too 

" My instructress was not only called the landlady, 
but also the doctoress, by the villagers. 



THE LAST OF MY SCHOOL-BOY DAYS. 91 

poor, or too stingy, to get drunk ; in fact, 
I never knew a confirmed drunkard in that 
place. 

The landlady differed widely from her 
husband in every respect. She was twice 
his age, and nearly twice his weight, 
he being very thin and slender, and she 
quite the reverse. He was a stiff Church- 
man, and she a stanch Methodist. How- 
ever, I never heard them dispute about 
religion, for he " had none to speak of,'^ 
and hers was of the quiet kind that never 
disturbed anybody. The nephew v/^as but 
a boy, and younger than myself; therefore 
I have but little to say of him, either good 
or bad. But the niece was a charming 
young woman. She was also a member of 
the Methodist Society, and the best singer 
in the village. I was much younger than 
she, and as I then had a very flexible and 
musical treble voice, we often sang together, 
by the hour, all the best tunes, and finest 
pieces of sacred music, that fell in our way. 
The demand for new tune-books then was 
not as great as it is now. Tune-makers, 
and composers of anthems and set pieces, 



92 



MY YOUTHFUL DAYS. 



were not half as numerous as tliey now are, 
but tliey were much more competent, and 
consequently the music was of a higher 
order than that which is made merely to 
sell. What was made was of the best sort, 
and what was learned was learned tho- 
roughly, and sung well, and produced a 
better effect than is generally the case in 
these days. I speak of that which was in 
use in the Methodist chapels in England 
forty years ago. These lively ditties, which 
are now so much sung in our social meet- 
ings in this country, were altogether un- 
known among us at that time. The pieces 
we used to sing, to which I have referred, 
were Denmark, Poland, Sheffield, The Dying 
Christian, Cheshunt, Bermondsey, Canaan, 
Jordan, Crucifixion, and nearly all those 
found in Dyer's Collection. All these, and 
many others, we sung from memory ; and as 
our work did not interfere with our singing, 
nor our singing with our work, we lost no 
time, but gained improvement every day. 
To the lovers of that mechanical kind of 
harmony in which there is plenty of art, 
but very little genius, and of that in which 



THE LAST OF MY SCIIOOL-COY DAYS. 93 



there is a superabunclaiice of both, such 
singing as ours might not possess many 
charms ; but to ourselves, and to our little 
auditory, its attractions Avere greater than 
those of a full orchestra, with Jenny Lind 
in the centre, simply because we understood 
it better. 

At this period of my life I was extrava- 
gantly fond of the beauties of creation, and 
in the gratification of my taste in this par- 
ticular, perhaps few places could afford more 
innocent enjoyment than the luxuriant fields 
of my native place. It is said of Linn^us, 
that when he first saw the yellow-blos- 
somed furze,^^ growing on the wilds of an 
uncultivated waste, he fell dow^n on his 
knees, and thanked God for creating such 
beautiful flowers. On the commons, wdthin 
about a mile from my home, there was 
abundance of this prickly shrub, and in the 
meadows, thousands and millions of daisies, 
cowslips, primroses, and violets. But wdiat 
pleased me more than all these was a field 
of English beans w^hen in blossom. When 
planted in row^s, in a good strong loamy 
soil, such as that in Stewkley field, if the 



94 



MY YOUTHFUL DAYS. 



season be favorable, tbey grow to the height 
of three feet, or perhaps a little more. The 
stem is about as thick as one's little finger, 
and hollo^Y. The leaves and pods stand erect, 
and when fully ripe turn black. The blos- 
soms are a mixture of white, lilac, and purple, 
and emit a strong and fragrant odor. One 
might easily compare them to a regiment 
of soldiers on parade, each dressed in appro- 
priate uniform, with a beautiful plume of 
flowers waving in the summer breeze, Avith 
this difference, that although the field of 
beans is destined to be cut down, it is not 
with murderous intent, but for the profit 
of the farmer, and for the benefit of his 
horses, for whose use, principally, they were 
planted. For a more particular description 
of the English horse-bean, I would refer the 
reader to the Penny Cyclopedia; and for 
poetical descriptions of rural scenery, and 
moral reflections, to such writers as Thom- 
son, Mudie, Bloomfield, Hervey, Sturm, and 
St. Pierre. 

When I was old enough to work in the 
field, I hired myself for one season to assist 
in making hay. My employer's farm was 



THE LAST OF MY SCIIOOL-BOY DAYS. 95 



all in meadow land, and it took five weeks, 
including the month of June, and part of 
July, to accomplish our task. The meadows 
were nearly two miles from the house, and 
to save time, we took our breakfast, dinner, 
and afternoon lunch, in the field. Walking 
to the fields early in the morning, and work- 
ing all day in the open air, gave us a most 
vigorous appetite; and never have I seen 
the day when fat pork, boiled with cabbage, 
peas, and kidney-beans, or the like, tasted 
so well as they did during the whole of 
those five weeks. Our afternoon lunch con- 
sisted of bread and cheese, and home-brewed 
beer ; and never did a little company of 
men and boys dispose of a reasonable por- 
tion of those good creatures with a better 
grace, or with more thankful hearts, than 
we. Intemperance and profanity Avere all 
out of the question. Our employer Avas a 
pious man, and all his workmen, I believe, 
except one, professed religion ; so that the 
scene of our labors was more like the field 
of Boaz, (Euth ii, 4,) than most of the har- 
vest fields in those days. Yes, ^'Master 
Eddy/^ for so we used to call him, was a 



96 



MY YOUTHFUL DAYS. 



good man, and filled some important offices 
in the Cliurcli of God. Moreover, lie was 
very useful, as appears by tlie following 
notice of liim in the Methodist Magazine 
for 1835: ^'From his youth he was the 
subject of divine impressions, and much 
devoted to the Lord in prayer. When the 
Bedford circuit preachers first visited Stewk- 
ley they were entertained at his mother's 
house, and formed a society, of which he 
v\'as one of the first members. He com- 
menced his career of usefulness by visiting 
his neighbors, expounding the Scriptures, 
and praying with them in their owai houses ; 
and thus was a good vfork begun in many 
families, and in the neighboring villages. 
He was for many years an active and useful 
class-leader and local preacher ; and it was 
the joy of his heart to see sinners converted 
to God. He continued his labors of visiting 
and meeting his classes till within three 
weeks of his death. Thus, after going in 
and out before the Lord's people, with an 
unblemished character, for nearly sixty 
years, he died at Stewkley, after a short ill- 
ness, in the eighty-second year of his age.'^ 



THE LAST OF MY SCHOOL-BOY DAYS. 97 

There seems to be a slight discrepancy 
between this account of father Eddy in re- 
gard to the introduction of Methodism into 
Stewkley, and my distinct recollection of the 
fact of hearing Mr. Thomas Rogers preach 
in Mr. Tomes's barn, for which I can only 
account on the supposition that the house 
of Mr. West was too small for the congre- 
gation, and therefore they occupied the 
barn. The first chapel was built in 1799. 
Mr. Stanley was stationed on the Bedford 
circuit in 1797, and preached in Mr. West^s 
house ; and on the supposition that Mr. 
Rogers preached in the barn in 1796, 1 con- 
cluded that that w'as the beginning of Me- 
thodism in Stewkley. 

Mr. Samuel Copleston was one of the lo- 
cal preachers on the Bedford circuit. He 
was the son of a clergyman of Luton, and 
removed to Leighton when he w^as a young 
man, and was instrumental in forming the 
I first Methodist class in that place. He pur- 
sued a course similar to that of father 
Eddy, and was highly respected both in life 
and death. In person he was very tall and 
very slender, with a voice and features pe- 
7 



98 



MY YOUTH-FUL DAYS. 



culiarly feminine. His business was that 
of a sclioolmaster, and his language and 
manner in public speaking were highly re- 
fined and interesting. 

Before I took my final leave of Stewkley 
I made several attempts to try my hand at 
some more profitable business than that of 
braiding straw. One of these was that of 
making shoes. One of our local preachers 
of the name of Harris stayed at my father^s 
one night. I was so delighted with his 
company that I wanted to go and live with 
him, and learn to make shoes — not that I 
had any particular desire to hammer leather 
on the lapstone, or put it together on the 
last ; but I had a wish to go and live with 
Mr. Harris, I thought he was such a good 
man. My father consented, and I tried it 
five weeks. The family consisted of Mr. 
and Mrs. Harris, and a son and daughter, 
all truly pious. We had preaching once a 
fortnight, in the house, by the traveling 
preachers, and prayer-meeting, class-meet- 
ing, or preaching every Sabbath. All this 
suited me right well ; but the close confine- 
ment of the shop, a constant headache, and 



THE LAST OF MY SCHOOL-BOY DAYS, 99 

a most inveterate cough, caused my friends 
to think that I might become the victim of 
pulmonary consumption, and with regret I 
left one of the best homes that I ever had. 
My next situation was less pleasant, and be- 
cause some of my associates were decidedly 
irreligious, I soon gave that up. The bro- 
ther of my employer hearing of my objec- 
tions, desired me to come and live with 
him ; to which 1 readily agreed. 



100 



MY YOUTHFUL DAYS. 



CHAPTER YIIL 

FAREWELL TO HOME. 

It was in the sunny niontli of June, in the 
year 1806 — the year of the great solai 
eclipse — just as I had completed my fifteenth 
year, that I took my final leave of my 
father's liouse, with all the dear delights 
of home, and the still dearer enjoyments of 
the house of God, in which I had so often 
mingled my juvenile voice with the devo- 
tions of his people. It was necessary that 
I should learn some trade, or calling, in the 
exercise of w^hich I might procure an honest 
livelihood ; and, as yet, I knew nothing of 
consequence of any mechanical art, or of the 
mysteries of trade and commerce. One 
brother gave it as his opinion that I might 
make a good mechanic, but my father was 
imAvilling that I should spend my strength 
in hewing and polishing wood, the grain of 
which is often very cross ; and he, therefore, 
readily agreed to the proposal of the friend 
who wished me to come and reside with liim 



FAREWELL TO HOME. 



101 



at Ampthill, in the county of Bedford, se- 
venteen miles from my native place. I had 
never been so far from home before. Eail- 
roads were not then in fashion, stage 
coaches did not travel that way, and there- 
fore it was necessary either to hire a con- 
veyance, or go on foot. But fare was high 
and funds Avere low, and the only alterna- 
tive was to take it a-foot and make the best 
of it. I had one brother, whom I had often 
assisted both in the shop and in the garden, 
and he w^as now as ready to return me a 
kindness as I had been to render one to 
him in the time of need. We set out in the 
morning, and arrived at the place soon after 
the middle of the day. My brother tarried 
with me a little while and then returned, 
leaving me in a place which I had never 
seen before. Of course everything Avas new 
and strange to me, and made a deep and 
lasting impression on my mind. My em- 
ployment was to be that of a grocer and 
draper and general storekeeper, in a mar- 
ket-town, eight miles from Bedford, and 
forty-eight from London. My employer and 
his wife were members of the society of 



102 



MY YOUTHFUL DAYS. 



Friends, He was an elder, and she was a 
minister of that order. He wore a broad- 
brimmed hat, which was turned up behind, 
and a little on both sides. In other respects 
the dresses of both were made according to 
the fashion of the Friends in those days. Of 
their religious principles I have nothing to 
remark at this time, only that they were 
what we should now call ortJiodox, With 
their moral worth and true piety I was fa- 
vorably impressed from the first to the last. 
That they were both born of the Spirit I 
cannot doubt ; but how they managed to 
keep religion alive in the soul without sing- 
ing and prayer, unless they did it in spirit 
without the aid of the bodily powers, I can- 
not tell. Under the hospitable roof of these 
kind friends I took my first night's lodging 
in Ampthill, Avith feelings of no**ordinary 
interest. The order observed at meal-times 
was different from that to which I had been 
accustomed, and the manner of retiring to 
rest was altogether different. Instead of 
vocal prayer and praise before or after 
mealsj we had sometimes a chapter read in 
the Bible, and a silent waiting upon God in 



FAREWELL TO HOME. 



103 



spirit. To a mind less affected by outward 
things this course might be profitable, but 
to me, who needed the help of outward 
forms, it was not so. 

At that time there was no Methodist 
meeting in Ampthill, or within less distance 
than two or three miles, so that I was cut 
off at once from all my former privileges. 
All the religious services then in the 
place were preaching in the old Established 
church, in the forenoon, and in a small 
room, by the Baptists, in the evening, and 
silent worship by the Friends, forenoon and 
afternoon. The rector of the Episcopal 
church held tAvo livings, but did not reside 
in Ampthill. The sheep of his flock were 
without a shepherd all the Avorking days of 
the Aveek, for the curate lived at another 
place, and only served them once on the 
Sabbath. But I presume the sheep Avere 
about as well calculated to take care of 
themselves as the legalized shepherd Avas to 
take care of them, and perhaps his absence 
Avas as profitable as his presence. This be- 
ing the case, it is wonderful to me that the 
Methodists kept aAvay as long as they did, 



104 



MY YOUTHFUL DAYS. 



and I can only account for it from the fact 
that society in that part of the country, for 
many miles round, was differently organ- 
ized from what it is in many other parts of 
England. The Duke of Bedford, Lord Hol- 
land. Lord Ossory, Lady Lucas, and others 
of the nobility and gentry, either resided 
on or owned large estates in that part of 
the county. The influence of that class of 
landlords generally goes to the support of 
the Estahlished Church, and that of the 
tenants is very often controlled by that of 
the landlord. Considering these things, it 
is not so much to be wondered at that when 
T first went to live at Ampthill there was 
no Methodist meeting there. I might have 
gone to the Friends' meeting, but that did 
not suit my turn. They were fond of silence, 
and I was fond of singiyig : they had no re- 
gular preaching, and when anyone did ad- 
venture to get up and speak it was in a 
tone and style not at all conformable to my 
taste. I like the singing of hymns right 
well, but the singing of sermons I never did 
like, and probably never shall. On rainy 
Sabbaths I was, so to speak, compelled to go 



FAREWELL TO HOME. 



105 



to Quaker meeting ; but to sit for a whole 
hour without hearing a word of prayer, or 
praise, or exhortation, or exposition of some 
holy text, was not to my liking, nor to edi- 
fication. What are tongues and ears made 
for, but to communicate and to receive the 
things of the Spirit ? The true Friends — 
the real disciples of the founders of silent 
meetings — might possibly be drawn into 
closer union with each other by indulging 
in an " agreeing spirit of incommunicative- 
ness but as I had not " so learned Christ,^^ 
it was not so with me. David, on one occa- 
sion, says : I kept silence even from good 
words, but it was pain and grief to me.'^ 
He then adds, " While I was thus musing 
the fire burned, then spake I with my 
tongue and the disciples of Christ also 
said, " Did not our hearts burn within us 
while he talked to us by the way, and while 
he opened to us the Scriptures Paul and 
Silas might have had a very profitable silent 
waiting upon God in the prison at Philippi, 
but it seems they thought that singing, and 
praying aloitd^ was better ; and so it proved. 
Finding no food for my soul at the 



106 



MY YOUTHFUL DAYS. 



Friends' meeting, I sometimes attended at 
the Episcopal church. But here the minis- 
ter was not as good a reader as the one in 
my native village, and the voice of the 
parish clerk was not at all pleasant to my 
ear ; and then, the singing was so poor I 
could not endure it, and the preaching was 
not much better. I then turned aside and 
went to hear the Baptist minister at Mai- 
den, the Eev. Mr. Hobson. If I understood 
him right, he had been brought up among 
Methodists in Yorkshire, but had studied 
for the ministry with the Eev. Mr. Bull, of 
Newport Pagnel. He was an excellent 
preacher, as to matter, never controversial, 
but decidedly evangelical, though hardly 
animated enough to come up to my juve- 
nile standard of pulpit eloquence. The 
singing also pleased me w^ell, though the 
singers did not, for they did not invite me 
to take a seat with them, which I regretted 
the less, as there was not a young person of 
my age in the choir. They used no instru- 
ments but the voice ; sung only two parts 
of the harmony, the treble and bass. As 
many in the congregation as were able 



FAREWELL TO HOME. 



107 



joined with the leader in singing the air. 
The principal singers sat on both sides of a 
long table, at the head of which, near the 
pulpit, sat the leader, facing the congrega- 
tion. He was a very large old gentleman, 
with a voice as clear as a bell, and sufBcient- 
ly loud for the purpose. But what amused 
me most, vras to hear the old deacon read 
the hymns, the minister never reading in 
that church. He occupied a little pent-up 
desk in front of the pulpit, if, indeed, it was 
not a part of the pulpit, as a lady's pocket, 
now-a-days, is part of the dress itself, which 
was not the case in the days of my grand- 
mother. There, in that little sentry-box, 
the good old deacon, before and after prayer, 
and after sermon, read the psalms and 
hymns, with an accent, emphasis, pronun- 
ciation, and tone peculiarly antique. In 
the word calm, he always sounded the ?, 
and in the word despicable, he put the accent 
on the i, and sounded the a broad and flat, 
as in cahle ; thus : How des-pi-cable to 
our eyes This church I shall long re- 
member, and the deacon I shall not soon 
forget. 



108 



MY YOUTHFUL DAYS. 



Amptliill is deliglitfiilly situated, mid- 
way between Dunstable and Bedford, and 
about forty-eiglit miles from London. Near 
tbe town, on the north side, is a spacious 
and beautiful park, remarkable for its ven- 
erable oaks. These oaks always attracted 
my attention, on account of their prodigious 
size, and extreme old age. One of them 
was hollow. It is said of old Mr. Dodd 
that he preached a sermon on the word malt^ 
in an old hollow tree, but this was not the 
tree, I presume ; and yet with equal truth 
I can say, that some young men, in my 
day, held a social prayer-meeting in the old 
oak in Ampthill Park. On another of 
these venerable oaks was the following 
inscription, painted on a board, and affixed 
to the tree : — 

Majestic tree, whose wrinkled form liath stood, 
Age after age, the patriarch of the wood ; 
Thou who hast seen a thousand springs unfold 
Their raveVd buds and dip their flowers in gold, 
Ten thousand times yon moon re-light her horn, 
And that bright star of evening gild the morn ; 
Gigantic oak, thy hoary head sublime, 
Erewhile must perish in the wreck of time. 
Should round thy head no nocuous lightnings shoot, 
And no fierce whirlwind shake thy steadfast root, 



FAREWELL TO HOME. 



109 



Yet slialt thou fall, thy leafy tresses fade, 
And those bare scattered antlers strew the glade — 
Arm after arm shall leav^ the mold^ring bust. 
And thy firm fibres crumble into dust. 
The muse alone would consecrate thy name. 
And bid her powerful art prolong thy fame ; 
(j^reon bid thy leaves expand, thy branches play, 
And bloom forever in the' immortal lay/' 

On the west side of Amptliill Park, and 
near the gate, stands a stone pillar, called 
Queen Catharine's Cross, which was erected 
in memory of the unfortunate wife of Henry 
VIII., who, after heing divorced from her 
husband, chose Ampthill Park as the place 
of her future residence. The castle in which 
Catharine resided stood where the cross now 
stands. On the opposite side of the park 
stands the noble mansion called Ampthill 
House, the country seat of Lord Holland, 
but which was occupied by the family of 
Lord Ossory at the time that I lived at 
Ampthill. A little to the south-east of 
Lord Ossory's is another beautiful park, in 
which are the magnificent ruins of Houghton 
House, built by the Countess of Pembroke, 
dster to Sir Philip Sidney. Near to the 
entrance of Houghton Park,'^ one historian 



110 



MY YOUTHFUL DAYS. 



says, stood a pear tree, in which Sir Philip 
wrote his Arcadia. Another writer, in 
the Penny Cyclopedia, says that he wrote 
this work at the seat of his brother-in-law, 
the Earl of Pembroke, at Wilton. The 
rnins of Honghton Honse, and the splendid 
vista overlooking the vale of Bedford, I 
have seen, but the Arcadia I have not seen, 
nor the pear-tree in Avhich it w^as said to 
have been written. 

From my earliest recollections the town 
and county of Bedford have always possessed 
attractions, and an interest above all other 
towns and counties in England. In the 
church-yard of Eenhold, near Bedford, my 
uncle, late vicar of that place, lies buried. 
In the village of Elstow John Bunj^an was 
born ; and, if I mistake not, I have heard 
" those evening bells,'' which once charmed, 
and afterwards alarmed that inimitable 
allegorizer ; and what to me was more in- 
teresting, I have stood on the spot where his 
body was imprisoned for twelve years, and 
sat in the ^'big arm-chair'' that stood in the 
vestry of the old Baptist meeting-house, where 
the Rev. Samuel Hilliard, one of his succes- 



FAREWELL TO HOME. 



Ill 



sors, preached for many years with great suc- 
cess. In the same church where Mr. Wesley 
preached his famous sermon, called The 
Great Assize/^ I once heard the Eev. Legh 
Eichmond preach a charity sermon, on be- 
half of the Bedford Infirmary, after which 
His Grace the Duke of Bedford, and Samuel 
Whitbread, Esq., M. P., held the plates to 
receive the collections. Such a collection I 
never saw, either before or since — it was 
mostly all in silver and gold. The text which 
Mr. Eichmond chose was 2 Cor. viii, 8 : I 
speak not this by way of commandment, 
but by occasion of the forwardness of others, 
and to prove the sincerity of your love.'^ 
The residence of the great philanthropist, 
Howard, was at Cardington, near Bedford ; 
and within the bounds of the corporation of 
Bedford now lives my only surviving brother, 
and his only daughter. The present Pre- 
mier of England, Lord John Eussell, claims 
for his birth-place Woburn Abbey, in this 
county; and it affords me pleasure to be 
able to say I was personally acquainted 
with one of his lordship^s private tutors, 
Jeremiah Wiffen, the elegant translator of 



112 



MY YOUTHFUL DAYS. 



Tasso^s Jerusalem Delivered. Wiffen was 
tlie son of a Quaker. His mother was a 
Yfidow at tlie time to whicli I refer. She 
was a woman of uncommon energy of char- 
acter, and being a tenant of the Duke of 
Bedford, it is no wonder that her son, who 
was a very sprightly youth, should find a 
temporary home in the great house. 

The first four years of my apprenticeship 
passed away very heavily. As my employer 
kept no other apprentice, or clerk, the hard- 
est part of the work fell on me. The store 
was not very large ; adjoining it, however, 
was a warehouse or second store. My duty 
was to open and close the store, dress the 
w^indows, keep them clean, set out goods, 
and take them in at night, scour the scales, 
and trim the lamps, keep the store in order, 
go on errands, and wait on customers. We 
sold everything that is generally kept in a 
country store. We had a good run of cus- 
tomers, and I was kept very busy from 
Monday morning till late on Saturday 
night. Our principal market was on Thurs- 
day, and then, as many people, rich and 
poor, came in from the country, to '^do a 



FAREWELL TO HOME. 



113 



little trading/^ poor Giles'''' liad to be up 
early, decorate the Avindows, and put every- 
thing in order, in and about the store ; eat 
his breakfast in a hurry, get his dinner 
when he could, and wait for his supper till 
the hurry of business was over. I some- 
times thought that I had more to do than 1 
was able to accomplish, and that my em- 
ployer exacted more of me than he ought. 
We kept no fire in the store all winter, and 
lest we should lose a customer the door 
must be kept open, winter as well as sum- 
mer, from morning till night. This being 
the case, I suffered more from cold than 
from any other cause. I remember, on one 
occasion, being called away from my dinner 
thirteen times, to wait on customers, and on 
another occasion, being so busy all day, 
as to have no time to get my dinner till 
evening, which was about the time that my 
Lord Ossory took his, so that if I dined late 
that day, I kept quality hours.'^ In this 
respect I was about on a par with the 
Waterloo soldier, who fought all day with- 
out food, and dined at the same hour as the 

Bloomfield^s Farmer's Boy. 
8 



114 



MY YOUTHFUL DAYS. 



Duke of Wellington. There was, however, 
a vast difference between the shopman and 
the soldier — the one was doing all he could 
to prolong life, the other to destroy it. 
This reference to the battle of Waterloo 
may seem far-fetched and incongruous, but 
the fact is, England, at that time, was at 
war with France, and soon after with Ame- 
rica, and strange as it may seem, trade and 
commerce, the arts and manufactures, agri- 
culture and the stocks, were more flourishing- 
then than at any other time ; and conse- 
quently, while all the world Avas busy abroad, 
we were equally busy at home. Napoleon 
ridiculed the English for their Avant of 
martial spirit, and called them a nation 
of shopkeepers.^^ Perhaps, by the time he 
had done his day's work at Waterloo, he was 
of a different mind. 

Our country, at that time, was as full of 
the martial spirit as need be. The army 
in the field, and the navy on the ocean, 
vv^ere constantly losing, by hundreds and 
thousands, their best w^arriors ; and the 
vacancies thus occasioned had to be sup- 
plied from volunteer companies, the local 



FAREWELL TO HOIME. 



115 



militia, and the army of reserve at home. 
Our shopkeepers, therefore, were old men 
and women, and boys, like myself. During 
this part of my apprenticeship I endured 
considerable physical suffering, and occa- 
sionally much mental disquietude. In sum- 
mer, the confinement of the store, from 
morning till night, six days in the week, 
was very irksome. I wanted to be abroad 
in the fields, making hay, or reaping grain, 
and spending my time with the jolly far- 
mers, in the open air. In the cold and 
dreary winter I suffered much from sore 
hands and cold feet. We sold all kinds of 
groceries and drugs, and I had very often 
to go from handling such things to wait on 
customers in the dry-goods and thread-and 
needle department. Could I have kept to 
one branch of business all the time, I should 
not have minded it, if my hands had been 
ever so dirty; but to have to wash them 
twenty times a day, and not time to wipe 
them dry, in cold winter weather, exposed 
me to sufferings beyond anything I had 
ever endured. The sailor boy, no doubt, 
suffers grievously for the first few years of 



116 



MY YOUTHFUL DAYS. 



liis nautical life ; but lie lias not to go every 
half hour from handling wet ropes, and 
frozen rigging, to measuring ribbon, and 
counting needles ! It was the sudden and 
frequent changes from one thing to another 
that made the business of a general store- 
keeper so painful and unpleasant. 

But to make the matter still worse, my 
employer was not content with a moderate 
business, and, therefore, after I had been 
with him four 3^ears, he purchased a house 
and store, and other buildings, three times 
as large as the one formerly occupied, and 
added to his former business that of taking 
in grain and selling coal. Dealing in grain 
I did not so much dislike, but the selling 
of coal was an abomination to me, and the 
more so as we had to retail it in small 
quantities, for the accommodation of those 
who could not afford to purchase a ton at a 
time. In the old store our windows were 
small, and to clean them, and dress them, 
was no great affair. But now our windows 
must be as large as our neighbors', and be 
kept as clean, and dressed out as well, as 
theirs. Our store was the most prominent 



FAREWELL TO HOME. 



117 



one ill tlie market-place. The windows 
were large and lofty, and the shutters must 
necessarily correspond ; but to put them up 
at night, and take them down in the morn- 
ing, covered with ice, as they were some- 
times in winter, with hands as sore and as 
painful as could well be, was almost more 
than I could endure. Through mercy, 
however, I did endure it, till the business 
had so increased that my employer took a 
lady to assist in the dry goods department, 
and another apprentice to assist in mine. 
And, moreover, as the store was much 
larger, and required warming in v\dnter, a 
stove was provided, which seemed to please 
the customers as well as those who served. 
The lady could measure muslin and ribbons, 
while I sold drugs and medicines ; and John 
— poor John, how sorrowful he looked when 
any one wanted half a hundred weight, or 
half a bushel of coal — could take my place 
in the primary department, while I was 
promoted a step higher. This change was 
very salutary to me. My hands soon got 
well, my health improved, and my heart 
was glad ; and I ought to record it, as a 



118 



MY YOUTHFUL DAYS. 



redeeming circumstance, that during my 
greatest sufferings my employer's table was 
well supplied, morning, noon, and night, 
with the best the market afforded. In fact 
we had four meals a day ; breakfast at 
eight, dinner at twelve, tea at five, and 
supper at eight ; and however cold I might 
be during the day, I alwaj's went to bed 
warm, and slept soundly till morning light. 
I could not adopt the language of Jacob, 
and say, " In the day the drought consumed 
me, and the frost by night, and my sleep 
departed from my eyes.'' The language 
of Bloomfield Avas better adapted to my 
case : — 

^' Delicious sleep ! from sleep wlio could forbear, 
With no more guilt than Giles, and no more care ? 
Peace o^er liis slumbers waves lier guardian wing, 
Nor conscience once disturbs him with a sting ; 
He wakes refreshed from every trivial i)ain, 
Renews his toil, and trudges on againJ^ 

Farmer's Boy. 

During this long period — for long it seem- 
ed to me — my religious privileges, as before 
stated, were considerably curtailed. Before 
I left home I was permitted to attend three, 



FAREWELL TO HOME. 



119 



four, and sometimes five meetings on a week 
evening — now, not one ! Then I could at- 
tend four meetings on a Sabbatli, and had 
to walk only about fifty rods from home to 
the chapel. Now, if I went to a Methodist 
meeting, I had to walk three miles to the 
place, and three miles back again ; and if I 
stayed to the evening meeting, to walk home 
alone, through dismal fields and dreary 
roads ; unless, as on some occasions, my 
Lidlington friends accompanied me part of 
the way. Silent meetings did not suit my 
taste. The service at the old Episcopal 
church had lost its charm, chiefly on ac- 
count of the unmusical way in which it was 
performed. The preaching of the Baptist 
minister better suited my inquiring mind. 
It was not doctrinal, nor controversial, nor 
declamatory, but historical, expository, and 
instructive, and I could have sat under his 
ministry with delight, if the members of the 
Church had shown a friendly feeling. But 
they did not, and this led me to seek ac- 
quaintances among my own people. And 
here I found congenial spirits, particularly 
in the families of Mr. Eowe and Mr. Biggs. 



120 



MY YOUTHFUL DAYS. 



These dear old friends took me l)y the hand, 
and treated me with as much kindness as 
if I had been a brother, or a son. Lidling- 
ton Avas a small country town, about three 
miles from Ampthill. 

The preachers who officiated there were 
mostly the same as those who served in the 
same capacity at Stewkley. Circuits were 
larger then than they now are ; and it was 
some comfort to me to hear those whom I 
I had been accustomed to hear in former 
days. They were the local brethren ; for 
Lidlington being a small place, we were not 
favored with the labors of the itinerancy, 
except once a fortnight, on a week-day even- 
ing; and as my opportunities for hearing 
preaching were only on the Sabbath, I heard 
the traveling preachers but seldom. Be- 
tween Ampthill and Lidlington, the path I 
traveled lay partly through highly cul- 
tivated fields, and over heights, which 
afforded a very fine view of the valley 
of the Ouse, and the surrounding country, 
w^hich, in the summer season, rendered the 
walk extremely pleasant, but in the cold 
rains, and stormy days, and daijv nights of 



FAREWELL TO HOME. 



121 



winter, most dreary and disagreeable. And 
yet, when I got there, among my warm- 
hearted friends, I almost forgot the toils of 
the week, and the disagreeahleness of the 
journey. Those days are past, and perhaps 
I cannot record my impressions of the re- 
membrance of them in language more 
aj)propriate, than in the following extracts 
from the Imperial Magazine, vol. iii, p. 919: 
The path of no one is ever so barren a 
desert, but that there is at least some 
floweret to gladden him on his way, if it be 
but a Avild one ; and there is scarcely any 
man who would sacrifice the remembrance 
of some endearing scene, could it buy for 
him forgetfulness of every moment of mis- 
ery he has endured. How many fond 
associations, how many tender recollections, 
how many sweet resting-places, in his jour- 
ney through life, cannot the most destitute 
look back upon, and feel that the evil has 
not always overbalanced the good Yes, 
I may truly say, — 

" In thought I often take my silent rounds, 
And on tliat vision which is flown, I dwen 
On images I loved — alas ! how well ! — 



122 



MY YOUTHFUL DAYS, 



Now past- ; and but remember'd, like sweet sounds 
Of yesterday. Yet in my breast I keep 
Such, recollections, painful though, they seem, 
And hours of joy retrace ; till from my dream 
I wake and find them not. Then I could weep 
To think that time so soon each sweet devours ; 
To think lifers first endearments fail so soon.'^ 

From Sonnets by Rev. W. L. Boivles, 

At this period my week clays, througliout 
the year, were days of almost unremitting 
toil. In the slumbers of the night I forgot 
the toils of the day, hut waked in the morn- 
ing to the stern realities of life again. Not 
once, if I remember correctly, during my 
six years' apprenticeship, did I find time to 
sit down in the store to read a chapter, or 
even a paragraph in a book of any kind ; 
and only once, in all that period, did I 
find time to read a column in a newspaper. 

My employer was no politician, and there- 
fore took no paper, magazine, or periodical, 
whatever. Once on a time, however, he 
purchased a whole wagon-load of cast-off 
covers of the European Magazines, for wrap- 
ping paper, and many a time, when there 
were no customers present, did I cast my 
eyes over the advertisements, and other 



FAREWELL TO HOME. 



123 



curious matters printed on tlie ' covers of 
this popular monthly, and by these I learn- 
ed a little of what was going on in the busy 
world around me. But my principal read- 
ing, at that time, was confined to books 
written by the Quakers. I had practiced 
reading aloud to my old instructress, and 
her amiable niece, at the time I learned to 
make straw braid, and thereby excelled 
boys of my age in the art of reading. This 
being the case, I was appointed reader for 
the family, on winter evenings, after the 
business of the day was pretty well over. 
In the course of a few years I read the 
Journals of Thomas Story, Job Scott, John 
Grattan, several volumes of practical piety, 
and several others. The dear people prob- 
ably thought that by reading such books as 
these my mind would be "gathered up'' 
into a purer region of thought, than by 
perusing the works of Addison, Johnson, 
Paley, and Blair. If this were the case 
they were mistaken. The reading of Quaker 
books did me no good, for they had neither 
the charms of eloquence, nor the fascinations 
of fiction, to recommend them, and the sub- 



124 



MY YOUTHFUL DAYS. 



jects on whicli tliey treated were not such 
as interested my feelings. The Journal of 
Thomas Story was the most attractive of 
all ; but though I actually mastered a whole 
folio, (for that was the size of the hook,) I 
cannot now remember at what period the 
author lived, or how he begins or ends his 
narrative. Had EoUin^s Ancient History, 
Plutarch's Lives, Shaw's Travels in the 
Holy Land, The Spectator, The Eambler, 
or even Boswell's Life of Johnson, been put 
into my hand at that time, I should have 
learned something that would have been of 
use to me all througli life. 

As before stated, our market days were 
the busiest in the whole week, and we were 
often so crowded with customers, that we 
had not time to fold up and place on the 
shelves the goods that had previously been 
taken down ; and it was often actually the 
case, that one thing got mislaid while look- 
ing for another, and muslins, and cambrics, 
and silks, and satins, and stockings, and 
gloves, and shawls, and handkerchiefs, were 
heaped up in most inglorious confusion. A 
customer would sometimes want a particular 



FAREWELL TO HOME. 



125 



article just before leaving town, — ^' All in a 
liurry, team waiting, no time to lose, be 
quick. Unfortunately, the identical ar- 
ticle cannot be found, and nothing else will 
do. The customer leaves, the merchant 
loses his profit, and the poor clerk has to 
take a lesson which is more easily pro- 
nounced than forgotten ; and all this for 
want of a little more help. Facts like these 
often occurred. It is a long time since they 
happened. But this I can say, though I 
cannot account for it, that for twenty years 
after I was released from that kind of ser- 
vitude, if I felt more than usually unwell, 
or troubled in the day-time, I was sure to 
find myself, in the visions of the night, in 
the old store, in the same predicament as 
that above described. 

At length my journeys to Lidlington, on 
a Sunday, were brought to a close. I had 
spent many happy hours there in company 
with my Christian friends, at their houses, 
and in the little chapel. In the family 
of Mr. Biggs, a young gentleman of the 
name of Millard boarded, who was a great 
proficient in music. He sang an excellent 



126 



MY YOUTHFUL DAYS. 



bass, and with liim, also, I spent many a 
pleasant hour, botli in the house and in the 
chapel, singing the songs of Zion. In the 
family there were four sisters, the eldest of 
•whom was named Fanny, one of the most 
amiable and most pious young ladies I ever 
knew. She died of consumption about the 
time of my leaving that place. She was a 
great lover of the doctrine of holiness, and 
was a bright example of the power of divine 
grace, in health, in sickness, in life, and in 
death. Her sister Sarah was a very intel- 
lectual young lady, a lover of literature 
and of eloquent preaching. Having lived 
awhile at Brighton, and in London, she 
was lavish in her praises of the great and 
good. The next sister was named Eliza- 
beth, and was about as perfect a specimen 
of good nature as I ever knew. Hannah, 
the youngest of the four, was a bright, in- 
telligent-looking girl, but at that time made 
no profession of religion. The parents 
were of that class who will always com- 
mand respect, both from the Church and 
from the world. Mr. Millard not only 
loved the music composed by others, but 



FAREWELL TO HOME. 



127 



probably tbouglit that others would like 
that which was composed by himself. He 
therefore published a small volume of tunes 
of his own composing ; but either for want 
of discernment in the public, or of merit in 
the compositions, the tunes never became 
popular. In the township of Lidlington 
lived a poor woman, a member of the Me- 
thodist Society, who, though she could read 
her Bible, had never been taught to write. 
She had a son, who taught an academy 
near London, who contributed twenty shil- 
lings sterling per month toward the support 
of his aged parent. This sum he inclosed 
in a letter, in a one-pound note, directed to 
my care, at Ampthill. The letter, with its 
precious contents, I used to carry to Lid- 
lington, read it to the receiver, and write 
an answer to the donor. This monthly 
labor was of service to me, it improved me 
in penmanship and composition ; and if I 
got no other reward for my services but the 
thanks of the parties, I had the credit of 
being the best letter writer, in their estima- 
tion at least, Mrs. Mann ever employed. 



128 



MY YOUTHFUL DAYS. 



CHAPTER IX. 

METHODISM IX AMPTHILL. 

When, and by whom, Methodism was intro- 
duced into Ampthill, is not a matter of 
such remote and uncertain date as to be 
lost in impenetrable obscurity. I believe 
that I was the first resident who bore the 
name in that place, and Elizabeth Cook was 
the second — but I was an apprentice, and 
she was a servant girL It is probable, 
however, that though I did nothing to favor 
or accelerate such an event, she might have 
been instrumental in promoting it. There 
were living at that time, within two or 
three miles of Ampthill, two wealthy far- 
mers, Mr. William Baker, of Houghton 
Conquest, and Mr. John Bennett,'--^ of Flit- 

" Mr. Bennett ivas froni Tempsford, near Bedford. 
His father was a tenant of Sir GiHy Payne, and was 
one of the most useful farmers in the country. Of 
his conversion, and of the introduction of Methodism 
into Tempsford, through his instrumentality, a most 
interesting account is given in the London Wesleyan 
Methodist Magazine for 1841. 



METHODISxM IX AMPTIIILL. 129 

wick. At the house of Mr. Baker the 
preachers on the Bedford circuit held meet- 
ing once a fortnight, on a Tuesday evening. 
In the course of three years I attended 
three of those meetings. On one occasion 
I heard Mr. Crickett ; at another time, Mr. 
France ; and the last time, Mr. Pearson. 

There was no preaching at Flitwick ; but 
Mr. Bennett, and his brother-in-law, Mr. 
Inskip, having recently come from the vi- 
cinity of Bedford, where there were many 
Methodists, and being themselves zealous 
friends of the cause, were probably the first 
persons that moved in the business. The 
preachers on the Bedford circuit, at that 
time, w^ere the Eevs. John Brownell, Henry 
B. Cheverton, Wm. Theobald, and Archibald 
McLaughlin. The first of these had been 
a missionary in the West Indies. My recol- 
lection of Mr. Brownell is but faint, having 
heard him only twice. In the Wesleyan 
Methodist Magazine, for 1823, there is an 
interesting memoir of him. He is there 
styled " a very excellent man, and useful 
minister of Jesus Christ.'' When about 
nine years of age he lost his sight by the 
9- 

I 



130 



MY YOUTHFUL DAYS. 



small pox, and continued three years totally 
blind. His father then dreamed, one night, 
that if he would take his son to a certain 
well in the neighborhood, and wash his eyes 
in the water of that well, his sight w^ould 
be restored. The father did so, and after 
repeated ablutions, the son recovered his 
sight. Soon after Mr. Brownell's conver- 
sion he began to exhort, then to preach, 
and in the year 1795 sailed as a missionary 
to the West Indies, and after laboring there, 
amid violent persecutions, but with great 
success, for eleven years, he returned to his 
native country in 1806, and sustained the 
responsibilities of a traveling minister until 
the year 1820, when he ceased to travel, 
and the next year he ended his life and 
labors, at Newark upon Trent, in the fifty- 
first year of his age.'^ By his looks I should 
have judged him to be over sixty years old. 
The missionary work must have injured his 
constitution very much to make him look 
so old. 

Of Mr. Theobald, and of Mr. McLaughlin, 
I have very slight recollection, but of Mr. 
Cheverton, who, by some arrangement of 



METHODISM IN AMPTHILL. 



131 



the itinerancy, was appointed to preach to us 
at Ampthill, once in a fortnight, on Sabbath 
evenings, I have a more distinct remem- 
brance. He had a slight impediment in 
his speech, which seemed to give interest to 
his remarks, as it obliged him to labor with 
greater earnestness than, perhaps, he other- 
wise w^ould have done. I have forgotten 
most of the sermons which I heard him 
preach, and nearly all the texts ; but there 
w^as one subject which, from the peculiarly 
solemn manner of his handling it, I shall 
not soon forget. It was preached on a 
Sunday evening, to a very crowded and at- 
tentive audience, from the words of St. Paul, 
Eom. vi, 23 : " The wages of sin is death.^' 

Our local preachers were John Arm- 
strong, a farmer by occupation, and a plain, 
pious, humble Christian, but not very gift- 
ed as a preacher ; William Yates, a farmer 
also, equally plain, and equally pious, but 
much more gifted ; and John Goss, a shoe- 
maker, and by nature, I should think, as 
good a poet as Eobert Bloomfield ; John Cur- 
tiss also, a lace-dealer, one of the best local 
preachers with whom I was then acquainted. 



132 



MY YOUTHFUL DAYS. 



On one occasion lie took for his text, Psalm 
Ixvi, 16, and preached his own experience, 
which, to me, was very entertaining and 
profitable. He lived at Wootton, near Bed- 
ford, and as he often went to London, in the 
line of his business, he gathered together 
some* of the best second-hand books that 
ever graced a preacher's library. When 
Lord Sidmonth's bill, for the suppression 
of w^hat the Church considered unordained 
and unauthorized preachers, was brought 
into parliament, Mr. Curtiss took a very ac- 
tive part in obtaining signatures to peti- 
tions against the bill. These petitions were 
dravrn up in legal form on sheets of paixh- 
ment about three feet wide and four feet 
long, beautifully engrossed, and addressed 
"To the lords spiritual and temporal^' of 
the British realm. The number of signa- 
tures to the petitions was almost incredi- 
ble, and astonished their lordships beyond 
measure. The arguments brought forward 
against the bill were effective, and the bill 
was lost. The particulars respecting this 
bill, together with the bill itself, and its 
fate, including an abstract of the proceed- 



METHODISM IN AMPTIIILL. loo 

ings in tlie house of lords, wlien Lord Sid- 
moutli called for the second reading, and the 
speeches of many noble lords against it, 
may he seen in the London Wesleyan Me- 
thodist Magazine for 1811. The whole 
number of petitions received was six hun- 
dred and twenty-nine, one of which was 
signed by four hundred persons ; and if this 
might be regarded as the average, then, as 
Lord Stanhope said,- if the bill were per- 
sisted in, the petitions against it must be 
counted by millions instead of thousands. 
This was the only instance that ever occur- 
red in which I felt it to be my duty and pri- 
vilege to sign a petition to the British 
legislature, for redress of grievances, or 
against oppression. But I was indebted to 
the vigilance and activity of Mr. Curtiss 
for the opportunity. He mounted his horse 
and rode through the country like an ex- 
press,^ ^ and wherever he found a Methodist, 
or a Protestant dissenter, whose signature 
he was likely to obtain, he presented the 
petition. 

The Episcopalians in Ampthill had pro- 
bably held undisputed possession of the 



134 MY YOUTHFUL DAYS. 



place from the time of Henry VIII. till the 
followers of George Fox obtained a footing- 
there. When and how this happened I 
never learned. The Baptists at Maiden, in 
1794, had for their minister a person of the 
same name as my father, but whether he 
was a near relative of the family I cannot 
say. But from what I knew of the state of 
religion, from 1806 to 1811, in and about 
Ampthill, I think I may safely assert that 
there was not one conversion among all 
these denominations, unless among the Bap- 
tists at Maiden, in all that time. The Epis- 
copalians heard a sermon and said their 
prayers regularly once a week, and some- 
times twice, and that was about all they 
did to build up the cause of Christ. The 
Quakers assembled together, in their quiet 
way, twice on Sabbath, once on a Thursday, 
and at their regular monthly and quarter- 
ly meetings, but I heard of no conversions 
among them. The Baptist minister preached 
good sermons, but there were no prayer- 
meetings among the people, and no public 
baptisms that I ever saw. It is, therefore, 
not to be wondered at that the Methodist 



METHODISM IN AMPTHILL. lo5 

ministers, who rode tlirougli the place, 
should inquire of their friends, Baker and 
Bennett, if nothing could be done for Ampt- 
hill ; and I should not wonder if the reve- 
lations of eternity should bring to light a 
fact similar to that recorded of the little 
maid who waited on Naaman's wife, Avhich 
terminated in the cure of Naaman. That 
little Israelitish maid, as she waited on 
her mistress, said, " Would God my master 
were with the prophet that is in Samaria ; 
he would recover him of his leprosy And 
it is possible that Elizabeth Cook might 
say, in her heart at least, " I wish my mis- 
tress were a Methodist.'^ Be that as it may, 
one thing is certain, — the good old lady sold 
one of her houses to the Methodists, proba- 
bly to Messrs. Baker and Bennett ; and that 
the said house was, shortly after, converted 
into a Methodist chapel, and dedicated to 
the service of Almighty God. In this not 
very elegant, but quite comfortable place, 
the Eev. Thomas Doughty, of Kettering, 
preached the first sermon from the Avords 
of Christ, Matthew xviii, 20 : " Where two 
or three are gathered together in my name, 



130 



MY YOUTHFUL DAYS. 



there am I in the midst of them.'^ I do 
not remember his introduction to the words 
of the text, but I well recollect that when 
he was speaking of the presence of Christ 
with his people, he remarked : As the sun 
in the midst of the firmament, — as a father 
among his children, — as a teacher among 
his scholars, — and as a physician among his 
patients, so is Christ in the assembly of his 
saints/^ The sermon in the evening was 
by the Eev. Frederick Calder, of St. Neots. 
I do not remember the text, or any particu- 
lar part of the sermon, but my impression 
was, that, to use an English phrase, he was 
" a capital preacher.'^ But greatly as I was 
delighted with the preaching, I was in a 
certain sense still more so with the sing- 
ing. The singers were from Bedford, and 
in the afternoon they sang one of Leach's 
tunes, called " Tabernacle.^ ^ This tune, in 
my humble opinion, is one of the best con- 
gregational tunes in all his collection, and 
being sung in the very best style, made a 
most delightful impression on my feelings. 
In the evening they sung an anthem, by 
the same author, called " Canaan,^' — a most 



METHODISM IN AMPTHILL. 



137 



charming piece, and performed in a style 
superior to anytliing I had ever heard be- 
fore. The contrast between this kind of 
singing, and nearly all other kinds with 
which I w^as acquainted, was great indeed. 
In this and several other respects the 
change Avas almost as great as that de- 
scribed by the prophet : For brass I will 
bring gold, and for iron I will bring silver, 
and for wood brass, and for stones iron : — 
thou shalt call thy walls salvation and thy 
gates praise.^^ Isaiah Ix, 17, 18. I had 
been with the Quakers in their silent meet- 
ings ; with the Baptists v/here a powerful 
tenor voice took the lead, with very few 
sopranos to aid in the same ; and with the 
Episcopalians, where there was a flock but 
no kind shepherd near,^^ to look after the 
lambs, or to seek those that had gone 
astray ; but in none of these pastures could I 
And that spiritual refreshment w^hich I de- 
sired : my resolution, therefore, on the day 
of dedication, was like that of Euth : " This 
people shall be my people, and their God 
my God.'^ 

Regular preaching having now been es- 



138 MY YOUTHFUL DAYS. 



tablislied among us, it was thouglit that we 
must open a Sabbath school. But who was 
to be the superintendent ? the librarian ? 
the secretary? and who was to draw up the 
constitution, and the by-laws, by which we 
were to be governed? These important 
items we never thought of. We began our 
Sabbath school without a constitution, with- 
out a library, and without officers. The 
first Sabbath it fell to my lot to open the 
school. This I did by singing and prayer. 
I then read a chapter in the Bible, and en- 
deavored to explain such parts of it as were 
not hard to be understood.'^ We then or- 
ganized as well as we could, and went to 
work, Avithout a Question-book, Catechism, 
or any other help, but the Hymn-book and 
Bible. William Moody, Elizabeth Cook, 
and myself, were the officers pro tern., and 
Nancy Deverell, Sarah Eoberts, and Sarah 
Harrison, were our female teachers. But 
as our school increased. Providence sent to 
our aid help from abroad. Several Metho- 
dists living in the neighborhood of Ampt- 
hill, settled in the place. These not only 
joined the society, but cast in their lot with 



METHODISM IN AMPTIIILL. 139 

US as teachers in the Sabbath-school. By- 
and-by James Downing, a blind man, and 
a local preacher, and his wife, and Mr. 
James, another local preacher, and his wife, 
were added to the number, and it was not 
long before the work of the Lord began to 
revive. Souls were converted and the so- 
ciety increased, so that in two years from 
the dedication of the first chapel, a nev\^ 
one, much larger, was erected in another 
part of the town, and in less than three 
years more Ampthill became the head of a 
circuit. 

At the time that the second chapel was 
built, our circuit preachers were the Eev. 
Messrs. Isaac Bradnack, Isaac Phoenix, Jo- 
seph Gostick, Kichard Eland, and Thomas 
Hall. Mr. Bradnack had been a mission- 
ary in the West Indies, and was remark- 
ably zealous in his endeavors to spread 
Scriptural Christianity throughout the land. 
He was tall and athletic, but not corpu- 
lent ; walked remarkably erect, Avith a firm 
step, and an air like a British ofiicer, and 
spoke and acted -like a commander-in-chief. 
When he spoke in public, a power attended 



140 



MY YOUTHFUL DAYS. 



liis word that made the sinner tremble ; but 
to the young and weak, and to tne peni- 
tent, lie was as kind and as gentle as a 
father. Mr. Phoenix was from the Emerald 
Isle. He had some of the eccentricities, 
and a good share of the generosity, of the 
true-hearted Irishman ; but he was a good 
preacher, mighty in prayer, diligent in his 
work, and always acceptable. Mr. Gostick 
was decidedly of English origin. I should 
think that his literary advantages, in early 
life, were very limited, for his pronuncia- 
tion, not to say of Scripture names, but of 
common words, was very incorrect. But he 
w^as an ingenious and instructive preacher, 
and a most pleasant companion — easy, affa- 
ble, cheerful, and communicative. His 
dress was that of a preacher, but his gait 
would lead the observer to conclude that he 
had held the plow and swung the scythe 
in other days. Mr. Eland was the exact 
counterpart of Mr. Gostick. To see him on 
a Sunday morning, in the summer season, 
as he walked to the house of God, dressed 
in a suit of rich black .broadcloth, with 
breeches buttoned at the knee and fastened 



METHODISM IN AMPTIIILL. 141 

with a buckle, and black silk stockings and 
brigbtly-polislied shoes, Avalking slowly and 
gracefully along in meditative mood, as if 
intent on holy things, one might suppose 
that he had studied Cowper's description 
of a preacher to good effect, or that he had 
been brought up in London, or Cambridge, 
or Oxford, and that he wished to make Me- 
thodism appear respectable in the eyes of 
the world. His sermons were methodical, 
and his manners impressive; but his pro- 
nunciation of certain words was not accord- 
ing to Walker. Mr. Hall was different from 
them all in almost every respect. He 
preached, and talked, and acted like a prac- 
tical Yorkshireman — as if he had been 
brought up in a region of steam-engines 
and rail-roads. He formed the local preach- 
ers, exhorters, and class-leaders into an as- 
sociation, gave them their lessons, and heard 
them recite. His object seemed to be to 
have a class of laborers that needed not to 
be ashamed when they undertook to in- 
struct others in the way of salvation. But 
I am afraid his labors were not attended 
with the desired success, there was such a 



142 



MY YOUTHFUL DAYS. 



wide difference in the age and capacity of 
his pupils. They were not entirely lost on 
all of us, however, and I think I may say 
they were of special benefit to me : they 
showed me my deficiencies, they set me to 
thinking, and drove me to study. 



LICENSED TO PREACH. 



143 



CHAPTER X. 

LICENSED TO PREACH. 

The erection of a new Methodist chapel in 
Ampthill not only marks an era in the 
history of Methodism in that part of the 
Bedford circuit, but a verj^ considerable 
change also in my temporal and spiritual 
affairs. I had spent six years as an appren- 
tice, and one year as a clerk, in the family 
of a pious Quaker. I had endeavored to 
serve my employers faithfully, and, as a 
token of the estimation in Avhich my ser- 
vices were regarded, they made me a present 
of a handsome silver watch. Under these 
circumstances, the ticking of this little 
chronometer, at the head of my bed, sound- 
ed very pleasantly, as I laid me down to 
rest at night, after the toils of the day. I 
had for some time wished to change my 
situation, from the business of a general 
shopkeeper, to that of a linen and woolen 
draper, silk mercer, &c., and from the 
silence of a Quaker family to the social 



144 



MY YOUTHFUL DAYS. 



enjoyments of a more lively and clieerful 
circle. Directly opposite to the old store 
was a very neat one of the kind referred to, 
kept by a first-rate merchant, a great lover 
of music, and in principle a Methodist. He 
had hut recently taken the store, was doing 
a flourishing business, and was willing to 
give me employment. So I took up my 
abode in his family, and turned my hand 
to a new branch of business. I had had 
some little experience in handling silks and 
muslins, or I should not have been qualified 
to occupy the place of first clerk in a dry 
goods store. This change in my employ- 
ment was very agreeable. But the change, 
in other respects, was, if possible, still more 
so. Instead of having to go three miles on 
a Sabbath-day to meeting, I could now wor- 
ship with my own people, in a commodious 
chapel, within a few minutes^ walk from my 
home. My employer had a good collection 
of books, and among them a fine copy of the 
Imperial Encyclopedia. This was the very 
work I needed. My school-boy days were 
over, and nearly all the learning that I had 
acquired during their short continuance 



LICENSED TO PEEACII. 



145 



miglit be compreliencled in tliree words, 
viz., reading, ivriting, and arithmetic. The 
interval between tliat period and the com- 
mencement of my apprenticeship had been 
diligently improved, without a master, in 
the same branches of useful knowledge. 
But during my apprenticeship, and the year 
following, all my reading, with very little 
exception, amounted to nothing. My thirst 
for knowledge was great, and I soon found 
the means of allaying it in the perusal of 
such books as tended to my real and lasting 
benefit ; and if, in trying to improve my 
own mind, I neglected the interests of my 
employer, I ask pardon, both of God and 
man. I may have erred in some things, 
but if I did, it was through ignorance, and 
not willfully. My employer, as I said be- 
fore, was a great lover of music ; and as, in 
his youth, he had become familiar with 
Leaches Anthems, nothing would answer 
his purpose but a copy of that work for our 
evening exercises. At that time a young 
doctor settled in Ampthill. He was the 
best flute-player I had ever heard ; and as 
I had a slight knowled£>^e of the use of that 



146 



MY YOUTHFUL DAYS. 



instrument, and a great desire for improve- 
ment in the art of playing it, I put myself 
under liis tuition, not as a teacher, but as a 
friend. He was a great admirer of Wragg's 
Duetts, and under his instruction I was 
soon able to accompany him in those delight- 
ful exercises. This being accomplished, we 
soon formed ourselves into a trio. The 
doctor, of course, played the first flute, and 
I the second. Mr. Shaw purchased a new 
violincello, and we took up Leach's An thems ; 
and if we had only had two female voices, 
and one good bass, to join us, we should 
have been the best choir in Ampthill. 

But though the "concord of sweet sounds" 
was exceedingly pleasant, there was another 
subject which took deeper hold of my feel- 
ings than even music. My worthy superin- 
tendent, the Eev. Isaac Bradnack, labored 
under an impression that the Lord had 
called me to preach. This he intimated to 
me one pleasant evening, as we were walk- 
ing together after preaching, in as gentle 
and delicate a manner as the nature of the 
case would admit. He remarked as follows : 
" When I heard you speak iu love-feast, a 



LICENSED TO PREACH. 



147 



few SaLbaths since, I thought within my- 
self, ^The Lord has something for that 
j^onng man to do : if he knows it, he ought 
to be encouraged ; and if he does not, some 
one ought to tell him of it.''' On hearing 
this I was greatly surprised, for nothing 
was further from my thoughts when speak- 
ing at the love-feast than endeavoring 
to make such an impression upon Mr. 
Bra;dnack's mind. I thought, and that 
very justly, that for such an important 
work as preaching the gospel I was alto- 
gether incompetent and unfit ; and when 
he proposed that I should go and fill an 
appointment at a distant village, I per- 
emptorily refused. This, however, did not 
satisfy Mr. B., and when he came round 
again he beset me, and prevailed on me to 
go to Aspley, and explain a verse" in the 
best manner I could, or as the Lord might 
enable me. In compliance, therefore, with 
his urgent request, on Sunday morning, 
July 11, 1813, I started on foot and alone, 
and walked about seven miles to the place 
of appointment. The meeting was in a 
barn, and when 1 raised myself up in the 



148 



MY YOUTHFUL DAYS. 



j)ulpit to give out tlie first hymn, my legs 
trembled, my lieacl began to swim, and in 
my fright I was actually afraid, if I leaned 
against the pulpit, that it would fall on 
the people. This paroxysm did not last 
long. The people sung the hymn, T prayed, 
and gave out another hymn, after which I 
boldly read the verse, Acts iii, 19, Eepent 
ye, therefore, and be converted, that your 
sins may be blotted out, when the times of 
refreshing shall come from the presence of 
the Lord." From this plain passage of 
holy writ I took occasion to show the nature, 
the necessity, and the blessed consequences 
of that repentance which is unto life, and 
which needeth not to be repented of. In 
the afternoon I spoke from Eev. xxii, 14, 

Blessed are they that do his command- 
ments, that they may have right to the tree 
of life, and may enter in through the gates 
into the city." How such a weak, ignorant, 
bashful, diffident youth, could ever make up 
his mind to attempt to preach, is still mat- 
ter of astonishment ; but the truth is, I was 
from a child, and am still, to some extent, 

easy to be entreated." A young convert 



LICENSED TO PREACH. 



149 



persuaded me first to open my moutli in 
prayer ; an aged woman induced me to 
make my first public attempt in a prayer 
meeting; and it was in compliance with tlie 
urgent request of my superintendent, that 
I ventured to take a text, and expound the 
word of God. My first attempt was original 
in every respect, from beginning to end. 
For my second I cannot claim the same 
degree of credit. I had heard that text 
preached from by one of the circuit preach- 
ers, and very innocently thought that I 
might make use of some of his leading 
ideas. I did so. The preacher heard that 
I had taken his text, which probably he 
had used more than once, and wished to use 
again. He, therefore, very naturally in- 
quired how I treated the subject. Some 
one told him, and this brought me out. I 
was reproved, and took good care how I 
worked with that man's tools another time. 
I mention this matter as a warning to 
others, and in token of my thankfulness to 
the preacher, who, hearing this of me, came 
to me himself to know if it were so. Many 
others may have fallen into the same snare ; 



150 



MY YOUTHFUL DAYS. 



but that does not justify me, and I would 
have all others to be careful in this matter. 

After my first endeavor to preach, the 
generous people invited me to come again, 
and two or three kind-hearted and zealous 
young men walked part of the way home 
with me, and encouraged me to persevere. 
I soon found that there was plenty to do 
for him who was willing to work. The 
superintendent, without my knowledge or 
consent, put the initials of my name on the 
Local Preachers^ Plan, and gave me plenty 
of appointments, some at the distance of 
three, five, seven, and even ten miles from 
m)^ residence. In the course of six months 
I filled appointments at nearly all the places 
on the Plan, after which my name was regu- 
larly inserted among the local preachers on 
the Bedford and Ampthill circuit. With 
the exception of two or three times, I always 
performed my journeys on foot, and alone. 
When the weather was fair, and the walking 
good, there was nothing painful or unplea- 
sant in the duty of a local preacher ; but 
in the fall, winter, and spring, when the 
weather was wet and cold, and the roads 



LICENSED TO PREACH. 



151 



almost impassable, it was not very agree- 
able to flesh and blood. But it was local 
preacbers^ fare. I bad voluntarily consent- 
ed to take up tbe cross. I bad set my band 
to tbe plow, and it always appeared to me 
tbat if I looked back I was not fit for tbe 
kingdom. Still it was a cross, in stormy 
weatber, to leave tbe Sunday-scbool, and 
tbe preacbing, and my seat in tbe cboir, at 
bome, and walk several miles tbrougb tbe 
rain, and miry roads, and meadows all 
afloat, as was sometimes tbe case, to preacli 
to a few poor people, in a country village, 
and in a cold room, and tben return again 
at nigbt by tbe same way. Yes, it was a 
cross, but tbrougb grace divine I bore it, 
tbougb I never received so mucb as a dollar 
in money, or even a pair of gloves, for all 
tbe services tbat I rendered tbe Cburcli in 
tbat way. Besides, I paid my pew-rent, class 
money, and yearly subscriptions, all tbe time 
tbat I was a local preacber on tbe Bedford 
and Amptbill circuits, wbicb was two years 
and six montbs. 

Tbe time baving arrived for Messrs. 
Bradnack, Pboenix, Gostick, Eland, and 



152 



MY YOUTHFUL DAYS- 



Hall to leave, and go to otlier fields of 
labor, it ^Yas judged best to divide the cir- 
cuit into two, and to constitute Bedford the 
head of one, and Ampthill that of the other. 
From this time, instead of five preachers, we 
had only two, viz., Eev. Hugh Eansom and 
Thomas Armet, for the year 1814; and for 
the years 1815 and 1816, Mr. Eansom and 
Mr. Hague. Mr. Eansom was a Welchman 
by birth. He was prohahly forty-five j^ears 
of age, had filled several important stations 
in the Connection with great acceptability, 
and was regarded as a very good preacher. 
But he was not a Bradnack; at least he was 
not such to me. He had a very large 
library, but he never so much as offered to 
lend me a single volume, nor asked me what 
books I read, or a single question in history, 
theology, or science. I relished his preacli- 
ing, but his manners I did not like, and 
yet I have no doubt he was a good man. 
Mr. Armet was a vouuq; man, had not been 
long in the ministry, and looked as if he 
had been well fed on his last circuit. Of 
his piety I have no doubt ; but though his 
preaching was acceptable to the people, it 



LICENSED TO PREACH. 



153 



was not instructive, or even entertaining, to 
me. Mr. Hague was a young man of deep 
piety, and of an excellent spirit. There 
was not, then, that clamor for brilliant 
talents that there is now, and it was well 
that there was not, for if there had been, I 
fear that poor Mr. Hague would not have 
passed the ordeal ; and yet, in the estima- 
tion of the truly pious, he stood very high. 
He had been brought up in the manufactur- 
ing district on the borders of Lancashire, 
Cheshire, Derbyshire, and Yorkshire, among 
lively Methodists. His first appointment 
was Ampthill circuit, a great way from 
Yorkshire, and the good man thought that 
^' so far south there Avas no Methodism.'^ 
But when he saw the Methodist chapel in 
Ampthill, with an ascent of twenty steps to 
go up to it; and when he entered it, and 
saw" a high pulpit, a large congregation, 
and a large choir of singers, with instru- 
ments of music, ^Ho praise the Lord withal,'^ 
his courage failed him;- and when he had 
proceeded a little WTiy in his sermon, his 
memory and his strength forsook him, he 
turned pale, fainted, and fell back in the 



154 MY YOUTHFUL DAYS. 

pulpit. In a short time, however, he recover- 
ed his strength and his spirits, and finished 
his discourse in a satisfactory manner. 

Some faint idea of the toils of a local 
preacher may be obtained from the follow- 
ing items, which I have copied from my 
journal of that date : Sunday, Sept 17, 
1815. This morning I heard Mr. Eansom 
from Eev. ii, 5, ' Eemember from whence 
thou art fallen,' &c. It was a very able 
and very seasonable discourse. After din- 
ner I walked to Williamsted, five miles, and 
preached afternoon and evening, and then 
walked home alone. Sunday, Bee, 24. In 
company with W. M., E. M., and D. G., I 
walked to Williamsted again, and preached 
in the afternoon from Luke x, 42, 'One 
thing is needful.' In the evening we all 
went to Cople, near Bedford, and heard Mr. 
Wiles, an aged local preacher, from, the 
city. He preached from Psalm iv, 3, ' The 
Lord hath set apart the godly for himself.' 
It being Christmas 'eve we stayed all night. 
According to custom, the Episcopal bell-ring- 
ers treated their neighbors with a midnight 
peal, which, being rather unexpected by us, 



LICENSED TO PREACH. 155 

sounded very pleasantly. The next fore- 
noon we had a prayer meeting at the house 
where we stayed. An old gentleman pre- 
sent, who had been brought up an Episco- 
palian, and found it difficult to lay aside 
the form altogether, began to repeat a 
prayer which he had committed to memory; 
but memory failing him, he stopped sud- 
denly in the middle, and after a short 
pause began again ; but meeting with the 
same difficulty, he exclaimed, ^ That^s not 
it.' In a little while, however, his recollec- 
tion served him, and he finished his prayer. 
After this we walked to Houghton, four 
miles, where I preached a Christmas ser- 
mon ; we then Avalked to Bedford, six miles, 
and heard the Eev. Mr. Dean ; and then we 
all walked home to Ampthill, eight miles 
more, that night. Sunday^ January 7, 
1816. Mr. Eansom being taken very ill, 
quite suddenly, it fell to my lot to preach 
three times at Ampthill. In the evening, 
before preaching, a circumstance occurred 
which I think it may be proper to relate. 
I had gone into my bed-room, in the 
third story of the house, without a light, 



156 



MY YOUTHFUL DAYS. 



for tlie purpose of secret prayer. While 
I was there, the hired girl came into the 
adjoining room with a lighted candle. I 
heard her go down stairs, and wondered 
that she did not take the light with her. 
But as I left my chamber, and was passing 
the room where the girl had been with the 
light, I perceived that she must have let 
fall a spark frona the lighted candle upon 
some cotton goods, which, by the time I 
reached the door, were all in a blaze, and 
but for the circumstance of my being in the 
adjoining room without a light, and passing 
that way just when I did, the whole of that 
part of the building would have been on 
fire beyond the possibility of extinguishing 
it. Thus, the sickness of Mr. Eansom 
obliged me to preach. A sense of my 
own unfitness drove me to * seek relief in 
prayer.' In doing this I needed no light. 
The girFs carelessness, in letting a spark 
fall where it did, occasioned the mischief; 
but providentially I was the means of pre- 
venting its spreading.'' 

Our little flock in Ampthill had received 
a valuable addition by the transfer of seve- 



LICENSED TO PREACH. 167 

ral Methodist families from other places. 
But before we had long enjoyed their com- 
pany and labors, an inscrutable Providence 
saw fit to remove three individuals of them 
to a better world. The loss of these per- 
sons was severely felt by the society, as 
well as by their immediate friends. But 
infinite wisdom cannot err, and it behooves 
us to say, submissively, Shall not the 
Judge of all the earth do right One of 
these dear friends was a local preacher, one 
w^as a class-leader, and the other was a 
poor, but deeply pious female. 



158 



MY YOUTHFUL DAYS. 



CHAPTER XL 

FAREWELL TO AMPTHILL AND BED- 
FORD CIRCUITS. 

" Dear bowers, must I leave you and bid you adieu, 
And pay my devotions in parts that are new?'^ 

The Bedford circuit preachers were the first 
of that class and order of ministers I ever 
heard. As long ago as the year 1797, I 
well remember the names and persons of 
Messrs. Stanley and Harper, who were then 
stationed on that extensive circuit. I was 
present at the dedication of the first Metho- 
dist chapel at Leighton Buzzard, in 1804, 
and heard the Eev. Joseph Benson preach 
an eloquent sermon from 1 Cor. iii, 11-15; 
and at the opening of a new chapel in Lu- 
ton, in 1815, where I heard the same divine 
again from the same text. I was present 
at Clophill when Mr. Bradnack preached 
his first sermon in that village under the 
shade of a great tree, and at the dedication 
of the little chapel, which Avas built on a 
piece of ground given by old Frank Eeed,'^ 
as he was vulgarly called, and was awaken- 



FAREWELL TO AMPTHILL. 159 

ed by the first sermon preached by Mr. 
Bradnack under the tree. At the opening 
of this little chapel, I heard for the first and 
last time the celebrated Samuel Bradburn ; 
but, alas ! he was then in his wane and al- 
most gone. It was in the Bedford chapel 
that I preached my trial sermon before Mr. 
Bradnack, who, if I had consented, would 
have taken my name to conference and re- 
commended me as a missionary to the West 
Indies. Perhaps I should have consented, 
but a fit of sickness set in just at that time 
and frustrated all our plans. Since that 
how often have I thought of the words of the 
prophet : 0 Lord, I know that the way of 
man is not in himself : it is not in man that 
walketh to direct his steps.'' Jer. x, 28. 
This text I had heard Mr. Eland preach 
from in the year 1818. 

The time at length arrived for me to bid 
a final farewell to the place where I had 
spent nearly ten years of my life, and to 
scenes which at first were new and strange, 
but which now were not only familiar but 
pleasant. A great change had taken place 
in the commercial world since peace had 



160 



MY YOUTHFUL DAYS. 



"been proclaimed betAveen England, and 
France, and America. My employer had 
taken an apprentice, wIlo had by this time 
become familiar Avith the business, and 
therefore my services were no longer neces- 
sary. I had spent nearly three years in 
Mr. Shaw's family, and formed an agree- 
able acquaintance with some of the intimate 
friends of the family, with a number of 
preachers, both itinerant and local, and a 
large circle of friends in the country places 
where I used to preach, to whom I had be- 
come warmly attached. But these ties must 
be severed ; and, accordingly, on Monday 
evening, May 6, 1816, I preached my fare- 
well sermon in Ampthill chapel, from Heb. 
xiii, 8 : " Jesus Christ the same, yesterday, 
and to-day, and forever.'^ There were 
many persons present of our society, and 
several of other denominations, to all of 
whom T said, " FareivelV^ The next day 
(May 7j I went to London, to live Avith a 
Mr. Eoper, grocer, High-street, borough of 
Southwark. But if the grocery business 
was disagreeable in the country, it was not 
less so in London; so, after trying it one 



FAREAVELL TO AMPTIIILL. 161 

week, I gave it up at once and forever. My 
late emploj^er, Mr. Shaw, hearing of my dis- 
appointment in London, kindly used his in- 
fluence in procuring me another situation. 
This was at Eugby, in Warwickshire, where 
was a noted school, kept at that time by 
Dr. Wool, and afterward by Dr. Arnold, 
well known in this country by his works, 
which have been published since his death. 
My employer at Eugby was an Episcopalian, 
and as high and as stiff in his notions 
concerning the supremacy of the English 
Church as some who are called Puseyites 
are at this day. He kept a large dry-goods 
store, wholesale and retail, and employed 
three clerks beside myself. The family 
consisted of Mr. and Mrs. V., six children, 
three hired girls, and a footman to wait on 
the table. Everything was in aristocratic 
order, Avhich was not very agreeable to my 
republican principles. I Avas permitted to 
worship with my own people, but it was a 
matter of toleration, not approved of by my 
employer. I might have endured this for a 
few years if the following untoward circum- 
stances had not occurred. In the village 
11 



162 



MY YOUTHFUL DAYS, 



of Lilburn, near Eugby, lived a Mr. Thomas 
Tansur, a zealous Methodist, whose sister 
was dangerously sick. The young w^onian 
had not experienced religion, and being, as 
was supposed, near death, her brother felt 
concerned for her soul, and wished me to go 
and pray with her. I complied with his re- 
quest, and while there the doctor came in, 
appeared to be highly offended at our in- 
trusion, and ordered us to leave the room. 
A soft answer might have turned away the 
doctor's wrath, but the grievous words of 
the incensed brother stirred up his anger ; 
and, not satisfied with this demonstration 
of his superiority, he made an offensive re- 
presentation of the matter to my employer. 
Mr. V. pretended that it Avas a disgrace for 
a respectable young man like me to asso- 
ciate with the Methodists. At this I also 
was offended, and gave him notice that in 
three months from that time, if he remain- 
ed of the same opinion, and I continued of 
the same mind as I was then in, I would 
seek employment elsewhere. 

While I was at Eugby I made a local 
preacher's visit to Lutterworth, in Leices- 



FAREWEIJ. TO AMPTIIILL. 



1G3 



tersliire. More tlian four liiindred years 
had rolled a^vay since Wiclif, the morning- 
star of the Eeformation, had exercised his 
ministry there, but the fame of his good 
deeds had not perished with the lapse of 
years. The church in which he preached is 
a handsome structure, with a lofty spire. 
It had been beautified, about sixty years be- 
fore I visited the place, with new pavements 
and pews ; but the pulpit was left standing, 
in honor of the learned and pious reformer. 
Over the pulpit hung a full-length portrait 
of the first English translator of the Bible, 
and in the vestry-room was to be seen the 
gown in which he preached. Many persons 
had begged, or stolen, a piece of his gown, 
perhaps without coveting a portion of his 
spirit. When I vras there, no more of this 
sacred relic was to be had ; but it mattered 
not, as every Englishman now may have 
what is infinitely better, the whole Bible, 
and as much of the spirit of the translator 
as he may need. Wiclif died in Lutter- 
worth, and was buried in peace ; but the 
persecuting spirit of Popery, about forty 
years afterward, in conformity with a de- 



164 



MY YOUTHFUL DAYS. 



cree of the council of Constance, says Pox, 
digged up his body, burned his bones, and 
drowned his ashes in the brook SwiftJ^ 
The Swift is a small brook that runs into 
the Avon, the Avon empties itself into the 
Severn, the Severn into the Narrow Sea, or 
estuary at Bristol, and the Narrow Sea into 
the main ocean ; and if, as the martyrolo- 
gist supposes, the ashes of Wiclif were car- 
ried thus far, then, as he asserts, " they are 
an emblem of his doctrine, which now is dis- 
persed all over the Avorld/' To cross that 
brook into which the ashes of the martyr 
were cast, to visit the church in which he 
preached, and to give a word of exhortation 
in the place where he died, though there 
may be no particular honor attached to 
these things, certainly gave me pleasure at 
the time, and the recollection thereof gives 
me satisfaction even now. 

My employer at Eugby had a j)artner- 
ship in a dry-goods store at Banbury, in Ox- 
fordshire, and on special occasions one of 
the clerks was sent to assist the partner. 
In the month of July, 1816, it was my lot 
to attend to this business. The particular 



FAREWELL TO AMFTHILL. 



165 



object of my journey to Banbury being ac- 
complished, and not being obliged to return 
to Eugby within a day or two, I obtained 
leave of the partner of my employer to 
visit my brother at Hardwick, near Ayles- 
bury ; and as it would not be much out of 
my way to call at the famous city of Ox- 
ford, I determined, if I went on foot, I would 
visit that ancient seat of learning. On the 
morning of July 3d I started early, and on 
my way overtook a plain-looking man, who 
asked me whither I Avas going. I answer- 
ed, " To Oxford.^^ " So,'^ said he, " you are 
going to see the parson manufactory.^' 
Yes,^' said I, " I want to see the univer- 
sity.'^ He seemed to be so well pleased 
with my appearance, or discourse, or in- 
quiries, that he invited me to his house and 
gave me dinner and tea, and in the inter- 
val took me to see the colleges. As there 
are more than twenty of these magnificent 
establishments, and I could not visit all, I 
preferred seeing, in the first place, Lincoln 
College, on Wesley's account, Pembroke on 
Dr. Johnson's, Brazen Nose, to see why it 
was so called, and New College, on account 



1G6 



MY YOUTHFUL DAYS. 



of its reputed beauty. With all these, the 
EaclclifFe Library, the Clarendon Press, and 
with the general appearance of the city — 
the most beautiful I ever saw, or expect to 
see on earth — I was greatly delighted, as 
well as with the urbanity of the stranger 
who showed me all these things. Classical- 
ly speaking, he belonged to the order of 
St. Crispin ; but he was well informed, and 
as kind as he was intelligent. The weather 
was extremely fine, mildly warm, and beau- 
tifully bright. The streets were remark- 
ably clean, the venerable elms in St. Giles' 
street were magnificent specimens of that 
order of ligneous plants. The buildings 
were splendid, and the paintings in glass, 
in New College, the most exquisite I ever 
beheld. 0 ! if the piety of the citizens, and 
of the university, were equal to the beauty 
of the place, I think there could not be a 
more desirable spot on earth ! Leaving Ox- 
ford, I took coach for Thame, (the source of 
the river Thames,) stopped all night at a pub- 
lic house, and the next day visited my brother 
at Hardwick. The day following I returned 
to Banbury, and on Saturday to Rugby. 



FAREWELL TO AMPTHILL. 167 

On the 14 til of August I resigned my 
situation at Mr. V.^s, in Rugby. The Lord 
had called me to preach, as I had every rea- 
son to believe. The Methodists claimed me, 
and did not wish to give me up, and I did 
not want to leave them. Mr. V. probably 
thought it degrading to him to have in his 
employ one that bore the name and desig- 
nation of a Methodist local preacher, espe- 
cially in a place where the claims and as- 
sumptions of the Church ran as high as at 
Oxford. In the evening of the same day 
that I left Eugby, I preached at Hillmorton 
to a crowded audience. The friends sym- 
pathized with me, and treated me kindly 
for the gospel's sake. Having now no cer- 
tain dwelling-place, my father dead and 
my mother a widow, at a time when clerks 
were more numerous than places, on ac- 
count of the stagnation of trade and com- 
merce that prevailed all through the coun- 
try, I felt my situation to be lonely in the 
extreme ; yet, as I had acted according to 
the dictates of my conscience, I cast myself 
upon the providence of God, and went for- 
ward, hardly knowing which way to direct 



168 



MY YOUTHFUL DAYS. 



iny steps. Just at that time tlie new Me- 
thodist chapel at Leicester was to he dedi- 
cated, and not knowing what might turn 
up if I went there, I called on my friend 
Tansur, at Lilburn, and invited him to ac- 
company me thither. He very readily con- 
sented, and we walked together to the place. 
We arrived before sundown, and took up 
our lodgings at a tavern. After tea we 
took a walk to see the chapel. While there, 
a plain-looking man, whom I took to be a 
Methodist local preacher, attracted my at- 
tention. I introduced myself to him, and 
found that I was not mistaken in my con- 
jecture ; and, in the course of our conver- 
sation, I inquired of him if he knew of a 
situation that would suit me as clerk in a 
dry-goods store. He had lately come from 
Derby, and said that he knew of a situation 
that was vacant, which perhaps I might, 
by writing to the gentleman who kept the 
store, possibly obtain. I therefore wrote 
immediately, and received a favorable an- 
swer while I was at Leicester. 

The new chapel was opened for divine 
service on Friday, August 16th, with appro- 



FAREWELL TO AMPTIIILL. 169 

priate exercises, and an eloquent sermon by 
tlie Eev. E. Watson, from the AYorcls of 
Solomon, 2 Cliron. vi, 41, 42. I had heard 
great things of Mr. Watson, and I was not 
in the least disappointed, except for the 
better. His tall and erect form, his fine 
forehead and brilliant eye, his dignified 
and solemn manner, graceful action, and 
musical intonations of voice ; his lofty 
conceptions, beautiful imagery, delightful 
illustrations, and impressive enunciations 
of divine truth, made a deep and lasting 
impression upon my mind. In the after- 
noon Mr. Bunting (now Dr. Bunting) preach- 
ed from Heb. iv, 14. His person, voice, and 
manner, were all exceedingly neat ; and if 
it would not be degrading to the subject, I 
would say that the framework of his sermon 
was as neat as a honeycomb, and the matter 
of it as sweet as honey. As a preacher, I 
should think he had fewer faults than most 
men, and less excellencies than some. In 
the evening Mr. (now Dr.) Newton preached 
in his usually eloquent manner. The Eev. 
Eobert Hall was present, and I have often 
regretted that he did not preach on that 



170 



MY YOUTHFUL DAYS. 



occasion. What lie tliought of the three 
then greatest preachers in the Methodist 
Connection I do not know. Mj own opi- 
nion, if I may use similitudes, is, that Mr. 
Watson on that occasion was the palm-tree, 
full of ripe dates ; Mr. Bunting was the choice 
vine, full of clusters, and not one wild grape 
among them ; while I would say of Mr. 
Newton, if I may use the words of Solomon, 
^' As the apple-tree among the trees of the 
wood, so was my beloved (Newton) among 
the sons (of Wesley). I sat down under 
his shadow with great delight, and his fruit 
was sweet unto my taste.'' The dedication 
services were continued on the following 
Sabbath, when Messrs. Bunting, Lessey, and 
Burdsall w^ere the preachers. The congre- 
gations on both days were very large, and 
the collections amounted to three Tiundred 
pounds sterling. While at Leicester, I form- 
ed an acquaintance with one who had been 
a member of the late Eev. Thomas Eobin- 
son's congregation, and I went to view the 
church where that excellent man preached. 
In the chancel was a beautiful white marble 
tablet, erected to his memory, and an elo- 



FAREWELL TO AMPTHILL. 171 

quent inscription, setting fortli his excel- 
lencies as a preacher, a pastor, an author, 
and a Christian. In the same church, also, 
I heard Mr. Benson, successor of Mr. Eobin- 
son, preach an excellent sermon one evening 
while I remained there. My friend Tansur, 
who accompanied me to Leicester, left me, 
and returned to Lilburn, where he remained 
till his wife died. He came to this country 
in 1829. I was then stationed at the Duane- 
street church, in the city of New- York. On 
landing in New- York he went to the Book 
Room, in Crosby-street, and inquired for me, 
found out where I lived, came to see me, 
and seemed greatly rejoiced to meet with 
an old friend. He had become a preacher, 
but not liking w^ell to run the hazard of a 
poor appointment in the traveling connec- 
tion, he left the Methodists, and joined the 
Episcopalians under Bishop Doane, succeeded 
in obtaining a comfortable settlement some- 
where in New-Jersey, where he labored a 
few years, and then died in the Lord. The 
Episcopal press spoke very highly of him, 
after his decease, as a man, a Christian, 
and a minister of the True Succession.^^ 



172 



MY YOUTHFUL DAYS. 



CHAPTER XIL 

TWO YEARS' RESIDENCE IN DERBY. 

As before stated, I wrote to the gentleman 
in Derby who was in want of a clerk, and 
received an answer to my letter while I 
remained in Leicester. The answer was 
favorable, and in a few days more I obtained 
the situation. Leaving Leicester I took 
coach for Derby, and arrived in that ancient 
and goodly city toward the latter end of 
August, 1816. My employer, Mr. George 
Sowter, was a Methodist. His wife, also, 
was a member of the same Church. Mrs. S. 
kept a boarding-school for young ladies at 
Quarndon, a beautiful little village, three 
miles north of the city. My predecessor in 
Mr. Sowter's store was a young man of 
excellent business talents, but was drowned 
while bathing in the river Derwent on a 
Sunday morning. My associate in the store 
was an apprentice, a young lad of good 
business talents ; but before the expiration 
of his time he fell into bad habits, and was 
dismissed with loss of character, and with- 



TWO YEARS' RESIDENCE IN DERBY. 173 

out funds. After his dismissal my employer 
took another apprentice, a distant relative, 
of an excellent family, and one of the clever- 
est lads I ever knew, — very similar in his 
disposition and turn to Master John Eogers, 
of Ampthill, who was an apprentice to Mr. 
Shaw when I left that place. I have un- 
derstood that both these young men suc- 
ceeded so well in business as to become the 
successors of their employers in the same 
business, and in the same stores. 

Derby is a place of considerable note, and 
I trust that a brief desci^iption of some of 
its more prominent features will be accept- 
able to my readers. All historians agree 
as to the antiquity of the place, but all are 
not so well agreed as to the origin of its 
name. Whether it was derived from the 
ancient Britons, the Romans, the Saxons, or 
the Normans, no one can tell. Tradition 
says that Little Chester, half a mile above 
Derby, was a Eoman city, and that Derby 
was a gentleman^s park, stocked with deer, 
and hence the name, JDeer-hy. History will 
have it that as the river is named Derivent, 
the town was called Derby, because it stands 



174 



MY YOUTHFUL DAYS. 



by the river ; while analogy would seem to 
say that the river derived its name from 
the town, because it weyit hy it, and hence 
was called Derwent. The fact is, the city 
stands hy the river, and the river went hy 
the place before it was a city, and very 
properly is called Derhy^ and the other 
Berivent Many things conspire to render 
Derby a pleasant place. The situation, an 
open valley, but not flat ; the public roads, 
all good, except in bad weather ; the soil, 
excellent, and in high cultivation ; the air, 
pure and good ; the water, soft and sweet ; 
and the public buildings such as befit the 
place. The water of the river is raised by 
an engine at the bottom of St. Michaers- 
lane, and conveyed through a pipe into a 
reservoir at the top of the church, the dis- 
tance of about one hundred yards, and the 
height of twelve. Thence, as from a grand 
artery, the water is conveyed by tubes 
under the pavement into almost every 
street. " Perhaps,'^ says Hutton, in his 
history of the place, ^'this is the most use- 
ful church in Derby, though preached in 
but once a month/^ 



TWO years' residence in derby. 175 

In the city of Derby tliere are five Epis- 
copal cliurclies, all of Saxoii origin, answer- 
ing to so many parislies. Of these cliurches, 
All Saints is by far tlie most magnificent. 

It stands/^ says Hntton, as a prince 
among snbjects — a giant among dwarfs. 
Viewed at a distance, in any attitude, the 
associated ideas of taste, grandeur, and 
beauty, fascinate the mind ; the eye is 
captivated, and continually returns to its 
object, but never tires.'^ This beautiful 
Gothic structure is one hundred and seven- 
ty-eight feet high, and tradition says that 
it was erected, in part, by the contributions 
of the young men and maidens of Derby, 
" which indicates that they were strangers 
to irreligion, poverty, and covetousness.^^ I 
was once on the top of this noble tower, the 
view from which is extremely grand. But 
what pleased me better than the sight of 
tliis splendid piece of architecture, or the 
view from its top, was the sound of its ten 
bells, and of its musical chimes. Every Sab- 
bath-day, three times, these chimes played 
the old one hundred and fourth Psalm tune; 
and on the day the Princess Charlotte was 



176 



MY YOUTHFUL DAYS. 



buried, and business was suspended through- 
out the nation, these bells were muffled, and 
tolled the most solemn peal that I ever 
heard. 

Derby, like many other ancient cities in 
England, is famous for the number of its 
charities, which, it is to be feared, have 
been either embezzled or grossly misap- 
plied; for, as Hutton remarks, Before a 
dying man disposes of that which belongs 
to his successor, he should consider whether 
he can deposit it in the hands of a perpetual 
trust, who will not want it themselves, and 
who will not slumber when a tenant wants 
it ; and whether, instead of making a saint 
of himself, he is not making a hnave of 
another.'^ 

In illustration of the foregoing remark, 
the same historian, in his description of St. 
Peter's church, says, " Eobert Liversage, a 
dyer, of Derby, founded a chapel in this 
church in 1530, and ordered divine service 
to be celebrated [in it] every Friday. Thir- 
teen people, of either sex, were required to 
attend, each to be rewarded with a silver 
penny. The porches, like those of Bethes- 



TWO years' residence in derby. 177 

da, were crowded witli people, who waited 
for the moving of the doors, as the others 
did for that of the waters. While the spir- 
itual sergeant beat up for volunteers, at a 
penny advance, recruits would never be 
wanting. A sufficient congregation was 
not doubted, nor their quarreling for the 
money. The priest found his hearers in 
that disorder which his prayers could hot 
rectify. They frequently fought, but not 
the good fight of faith, nor did ill-neighbor- 
hood end with Friday. The hearer used to 
pay the preacher, but here the case was 
reversed. We learn that no scheme is so 
likely to fill a church as the silver penny ; 
that good silver will draw more hearers 
than good sermons ; that no devotion is 
valid that is bought with a price ; and that 
a penny will make a hypocrite V' 

In addition to the five Episcopal churches, 
Derby contained, in 1817, five or six for 
Dissenters, and one for Eomanists. Hutton 
appears, by his writings, to have been an 
Episcopalian. He speaks of the first Me- 
thodist chapel, and of Mr. Wesley, thus : 
The Methodists erected a meeting-house 
12 



178 



MY YOUTHFUL DAYS. 



in St. Michaers-lane, under that great di- 
vine John Wesley^ who, differing in senti- 
ments from the sons of the Church, covets 
not wealth, though all he possesses is not 
of more consequence than the small dust of 
the balance; but he covets more religion, 
though already possessed of more than half 
the bench of bishops. 

Derby, in the days of Popery, was famous 
for religious houses, as they were then called. 
On the dissolution of these houses, and of 
the changes consequent thereupon, Hutton, 
in his facetious manner, thus speaks : "We 
have touched at six places, all sacred ground, 
set apart for holiness, famous for piety, ex- 
pense, and miracle. But alas ! how changed ! 
St. Helenas is an orchard ; the fruit of the 
monastery is changed into that of the apple- 
tree ; and however the ground, in two hun- 
dred years, may have lost its sacred influence, 
yet this fruit is as finely flavored as if under 
the consecrating prayers of the monk. The 
spot where the assembly of the fair com- 
posed a nunnery, [Nuns' Green,] where 
the practice of the life was not the wish of 
the heart, where the passions of the mind 



TWO YEARS' RESIDENCE IN DERBY. 179 



were suspended, and the designs of nature 
inverted, is now laid in silence, except the 
noise of the winds blowing above, and the 
beasts cropping the grass belovv^ The place 
is now an open field, and plenty smiles where 
beauty wept/^ 

The principal manufactures in Derby are 
in cotton, silk, and porcelain. The silk 
mill, as it is called, is not for grinding silk, 
but whiding it on bobbins, and preparing it 
for the weavers. This ponderous building, 
erected by John Lombe, stands upon 4iuge 
piles of oak, from sixteen to twenty feet 
long, driven close to each other with an en- 
gine made for the purpose, on an island, or 
rather swamp, in the river Derwent. Over 
this solid mass of timber is laid a founda- 
tion of stone, and on this is erected a build- 
ing containing eight apartments and four 
hundred and sixty-eight windows. 

In the course of his history, Mr. Hutton 
gives the following very curious account of 
his own ancestry : In the year 1647, a re- 
giment of troopers in the parliament's ser- 
vice, marching over St. Mary's Bridge, in 
their way to Nottingham, observed a girl 



180 



MY YOUTHFUL DAYS. 



lading' water into her pail, while standing 
upon a log in the edge of the river. Some 
soldierly jokes ensued, when one of them 
dismounted and threw a large stone, with 
a design to splash her. But not being as 
well versed in directing a stone as a bullet, 
he missed his aim and broke her head. 
Alarmed at the result, the soldier changed 
his position to avoid the consequences. Thus 
the man who had boldly faced an enemy in 
the field, fled at the sight and cries of an 
injufed and helpless female. The girl ran 
home to her mother covered with blood 
from the wound inflicted by the stone. The 
unknown consequences of this adventure 
hung upon the trooper's mind. He served 
in the regiment eleven years, and on his 
discharge settled at Derby, followed his oc- 
cupation, courted and married a young wo- 
man. In the course of their conversation 
he proved to be the man who cast the stone, 
and she the woman who was wounded by it. 
They lived in Bridgegate, in harmony, about 
thirty years, and had eleven children, the 
eldest of whom (says Hutton) was my 
grandfather. 



TWO YEARS' KESIDEXCE IX DERBY. 181 

111 another part of liis book, Mr. H. re- 
lates the following singular adventures of 
a man named Xoah Bullock : " Enraptured 
with his name, being that of the first navi- 
gator, and the founder of the largest family 
upon record, our post-diluvian Noah, hav- 
ing three sons, named them Shem, Ham, 
and Japheth, and to complete the farce, be- 
ing a man of property, he built an ark and 
launched it upon the Derwent ; but whether 
a bullock graced the stern or not, history is 
silent. Here Noah and his three sons en- 
joyed their abode, and the people their 
laugh. But nothing is more common than 
for people to deceive one another, for the 
Avorld acts under a mask. If the citizens 
ridiculed Noah, he laughed at them, for it 
afterward appeared that he had more sense 
than honesty, and more craft than either : 
for this disguise and retreat were to be a 
security for the coining of money. He 
knew that justice could not easily overtake 
him, and if it should, the deej) was ready to 
hide his implements and his crimes. Sif 
Simon Degge, an active magistrate, was in- 
formed of Noah's proceedings, sent for him, 



182 



MY YOUTHFUL DAYS, 



and desired to see a specimen of liis Avork. 
Noali hesitated, but tlie worthy knight pro- 
mised that no evil should ensue provided 
he would relinquish his occupation. He 
then took out a sixpence and told Sir Simon 
he could make as good as that. The ma- 
gistrate smiled. Noah withdrew, broke 
up his ark, and escaped the rigor of the 
law.'^ 

As my object was not to write a history 
of Derby, I must now return to my narra- 
tive again. Soon after I entered upon my 
new situation I presented my credentials as 
a Methodist and a local preacher, and was 
recognized as such, first, by the superinten- 
dent, the Eev. Joseph Taylor, sen., and 
then by the Quarterly Meeting Conference. 
The Methodist chapel at Derby when I was 

•'^ Methodism was introduced into Derby in 1761. 
The first Methodist chapel, that in St. MichaeUs-lane, 
was erected in 1765. The one in King-street was 
erected in 1805, and seated about eight hundred per- 
sons. This was puUed down in 1841, and a new one, 
capable of seating sixteen hundred persons, with 
school-rooms underneath, capable of holding six hun- 
dred children, erected in its place. — See Wesleyan Me- 
thodist Magazine for 1841, p. 1026. 



TWO YEARS' RESIDENCE IN DERBY. 183 

there, stood at the head of King-street. It 
was a very commodious building, with a 
small burying-ground in front, and a par- 
sonage house on each side, forming some- 
thing like wings to the main building. 
Underneath the body of the chapel were 
rooms for classes, leaders' and local preach- 
ers' meetings. The chapel was a spacious 
and very convenient place of worship, fitted 
up with pews in the gallery and in the 
centre below, and free seats for men on one 
side and women on the other. By this ar- 
rangement the congregation both kept and 
broke Mr. Wesley's rule : " Let the men 
and women sit apart.'' The aristocracy oc- 
cupied pews in the gallery and middle of 
the building, and the poor men and women 
on either side below. This principle was 
actually carried out at the dedication of the 
new chapel at Leicester. Those who wore 
gold rings and goodly raiment were per- 
mitted to go into the gallery, while those 
who were clothed in coarse apparel were 
told to sit below. It also obtained on a 
special occasion at the City Eoad Chapel in 
London, when His Eoyal Highness the Duke 



184 MY YOUTHFUL DAYS. 

of Kent, tlie father of Queen Victoria, was 
one of tlie auditors : and why not ? for it 
was the fashion at the Chapel Eoyal in 
London when I attended there. It is the 
court that fixes the standard both for town 
and country. This being the case at Derby, 
the singers were placed on seats rising one 
above another, like an infant class in Sun- 
day-school, in front of the pulpit, and facing 
the congregation. 

Our circuit preachers, the first year that 
I was in Derby, were the Eev. Joseph Tay- 
lor, sen., and the Eev. Edward Oakes. Mr. 
Taylor was a native of Derbyshire, and 
seemed to be an exception to that general 
rule, or proverb, " A prophet is not without 
honor, save in his own country, and among 
his own kindred.^^ He was, perhaps, seventy 
years of age, had traveled in Mr. Wesley^s 
time, and was well acquainted with that 
extraordinary man. I once asked Mr. Tay- 
lor what were his impressions and views 
respecting the character of Mr. Wesley. 
His answer was, " K I had not known him 
to be a man I should have worshipped him, 
and ' Take him for all in all, I shall never 



TWO years' residence in derby. 185 



look upon liis like again/'' Mr. Taylor 
was very uniform in his preaching, — never 
very energetic, never languid, but always 
clear, sound, and strictly evangelical, and 
always concluded his discourse with a pray- 
er ending with these words, " The Almighty 
grant it, for the Eedeemer's sake.'' But 
if he was not as popular a preacher as Mr. 
Bradburn, Mr. Benson, or Mr. Bunting, he 
must have been very highly esteemed both 
by Mr. Wesley and the conference, for he 
was once president of the conference, and 
first preacher on the first London circuit, 
chairman of the district, &c. ^'The last few 
years of his life he was a supernumerary 
at Derby, where he was greatly beloved 
and honored. When young, he injured his 
constitution during a great revival of reli- 
gion in Cornwall. By over exertion in this 
good work, he entailed upon himself infirmi- 
ties which never left him, and which gave 
to his physical efforts in the pulpit an air 
of feebleness. His discourses, however, 
though not brilliant, contained a rich va- 
riety of important matter, well arranged, 
and delivered in a neat and pure style, and 



186 



MY YOUTHFUL DAYS. 



in a gentle, graceful, and persuasive man- 
ner. Industry, economy, frugality, neat- 
ness, habits of order, and benevolence, were 
conspicuous traits in his character. He 
died in great peace June 22, 1830, aged 
seventy-eight years. Some of his last 
words were, * God is with me. He never 
leaves me. I can talk of nothing but the 
love of Christ.^ Mrs. Taylor died ten years 
before her husband. Her last words were, 
'Jesus Christ is to me health in sickness, 
ease in pain, life in death. God is always 
with me.'^^ — See Mnglisli Wesleymi Method- 
ist Magazine for 1820 and 1830. 

But, well pleased as I was with Mr. Tay- 
lor, I was still more so, if possible, with Mr. 
Oakes. I had often heard of him, while 
living with Mr. Shaw at Ampthill, as a 
preacher of more than ordinary talents, Mr. 
S. beino; one of his reo^ilar hearers while 
Mr. O. was stationed at Halifax and Hud- 
dersfield, in Yorkshire. In his manner, 
Mr. Oakes was more animated than Mr. 
Taylor, and his sermons, in general, were 
more ample and more minute than those 
of his venerable colleague. There was a 



TWO years' residence in derby. 187 

shrewdness and ingenuity in Mr. Taylor, 
and a pleasant vein of liiimor, which, not- 
withstanding his gravity and good sense, 
would sometimes ooze out between the 
chinks of his well-arranged discourses. For 
example, in a sermon on these words, If 
any man have not the spirit of Christ, he is 
none of his,'' he laid down three rules or 
evidences by which we might know whether 
we had the spirit of Christ or not; these 
were the antecedents, the concomitants, and 
the siibsequents. When speaking of the an- 
tecedents, he inquired, Have we been con- 
vinced of the Fact, the Fault, the Folly, 
the Fountain, and the F^niit of sin The 
five words beginning with the letter F, 
were probably chosen to assist the memory; 
but then every point was elucidated with as 
much precision as if he had been describing 
the five bodily senses. Then, again, after 
describing the character of a very wicked 
man, and making the inquiry, " Can such 
a man be said to have the spirit of Christ?'' 
he raised his voice, and with an emphasis 
somewhat unusual, answered, " No ! such a 
man is rather a limb of the devil than a 



188 



MY YOUTHFUL DAYS. 



member of the mystical body of Christ/' 
Mr. Oakes was generally more energetic; 
and on one occasion, when preaching from 
Heb. ii, 3, after describing the abundant 
provisions of the gospel for perishing sin- 
ners, he exclaimed, in tones almost unearth- 
ly, " How shall ive escape if we negleet so great 
salvation 

The wisdom of the British Conference, I 
think, appears in nothing more than in keep- 
ing closely to Mr. Wesley's original plan of 
having circuits instead of stations. In the 
Derby circuit there were twenty-one appoint- 
ments, and twenty local preachers. Every 
congregation was supplied with Sabbath 
preaching, either by the local or itinerant 
preachers; and the poorest place had the 
benefit of the same traveling preachers' la- 
bors as the richest. Of the twenty local 
preachers, Mr. William Jones and Mr. John 
Wheeldon were my most intimate and agree- 
able companions. Mr. Jones was the young 
man whom I met at Leicester the evening be- 
fore the dedication, and who informed me of 
the vacancy in the store which I afterwards 
filled. He was clerk for Mr. Hackett, a great 



TWO YEARS' llESIDENCE IN DERBY. 189 

lover of good books, but very cautious about 
preaching before any of the brethren. Mi\ 
Wheeldon was one of the operatives in Mr. 
Strutt's establishment at Darley. He was 
A'ery friendly, a very pious young man, and a 
good preacher. With him and Mr. Jones I 
met in band nearly two years, on Sabbath 
morning, at nine o^clock, at the house of 
brother Jones ; then attended chapel and 
heard the morning sermon ; then went to our 
appointments; and if we could so manage 
the matter, we walked together in company, 
either going or returning, at least part of 
the way. 

In addition to this pleasant intercourse 
between two of the brethren and myself, 
the local preachers who lived in the city, 
of whom there were ten, met once a week 
.it the house of brother Fitchett, bookseller, 
m Saddler-gate, for the purpose of mutual 
improvement. Our plan was to choose a 
moderator for the night, who should name 
the subject for discussion for the next week, 
he being, in order, the first to speak on that 
question, and the others to follow in the 
order in w^hich they stood on the plan. 



190 



MY YOUTHFUL DAYS. 



When all liacl spoken, any one had a right 
to criticise, if he thought proper ; no vote 
was taken on the question, but great defer- 
ence was always paid to age, experience, 
and acknowledged ability. In this way we 
discussed some of the most important topics 
in theology ; the brightest thoughts were 
by this means elicited ; new views of old 
subjects were brought out ; and if any one 
were in error, he was then set right, the 
final appeal being to the word of God, in 
all cases where that has recorded its testi- 
mony. Once a quarter the whole band of 
local preachers met with the traveling 
preachers, at which time our moral and 
ministerial character underwent a strict 
examination, and we received our appoint- 
ments for the coming quarter. The superin- 
tendent submitted the Plan, in manuscript, 
which was read, corrected, if necessary, 
adopted, and finally printed for the use of 
the preachers, and all others who wished to 
have it. There were some j)eculiarities in 
relation to some of the appointments. The 
local preachers never officiated at Derby, 
unless the stationed preacher was sick or 



TWO YEARS' RESIDENCE IN DERBY. 191 

absent ; and to one or two of tlie preacliing 
places only particular preachers could go, on 
account of the great distance. At every 
appointment there was a regular place of 
entertainment, some of which were kept by 
persons chosen by the society, and, if they 
were poor persons, they were paid by the 
society. At one place there were two fami- 
lies that entertained the preachers, and in 
general the richer family entertained the 
traveling preacher, and the other the local 
brethren ; but as I w^as a stranger, from 
near London, they both took me in turn, 
and entertained me as kindly as if I had 
belonged to the traveling connection. 

The traveling on Derby circuit, in sum-= 
mer time, was as pleasant as any one could 
desire ; sometimes along the tow-path by the 
side of the canal, at other times through 
meadows, on the banks of the river, then 
along a fine road, and through pleasant 
villages, to the place of appointment. But 
in winter, and stormy weather, it was dreary 
enough. The traveling preachers were ac- 
commodated with a horse, which was the 
property of the circuit, and not subject to 



192 



MY YOUTHFUL BAYS. 



the la^ys of tlie conference. If, however, he 
was not subject to the law of itinerancy, and 
liable to a change of home every two or 
three years, he was liable to another incon- 
venience. Adz., a change of masters, and in 
that case he might have to carry a much 
greater burden one year than another. The 
custom of the itinerancy was for one preacher 
to spend two weeks on the circuit, while the 
other preacher was in town, and to take it 
in turns throughout the year. The prede- 
cessor of Mr. Oakes was the Eev. Theophilus 
Lessey, Jun., then a young married man, 
said to be one of the most talented young 
preachers in the connection. In the prime 
of life, and in the full tide of his popularity, 
I found that his fame had spread through 
every part of the circuit. In the notice 
given of him in the Minutes of Conference, 
after his death, it is said, " He stood forth 
as one of the most powerful preachers of 
God's truth among us — a burning and a 
shining light — a workman that needeth not 
to be ashamed, rightly dividing the word 
of truth.'' — See Wedeyan Methodist Magazine 
for 1841, p. 773. 



TWO YEARS' RESIDENCE IN DERBY. 193 

One of the most interesting local preach- 
ers that I became acquainted with in Derby 
was Mr. John Hackett. He was my class 
leader, and from that circumstance I had a 
good opportunity of judging of his piety and 
usefulness. His class was always well at- 
tended, and never do I recollect of having 
an unproiBtable season while waiting upon 
the Lord in this means of grace. As a 
leader, he was faithful and much beloved. 
As a preacher, he was no man's copy, but a 
deep, original thinker ; and his sermons were 
much more remarkable for good strong com- 
mon sense, than for the niceties of grammar, 
the subtleties of logic, or the flowers of 
rhetoric. But the most popular local preach- 
er in those parts, at that time, was Quinton 
Eeynolds, of Belper. He was a young man 
of remarkable promise, and was called out 
to travel the year after I left Derby. But 
in less than two years he finished his work, 
and died in the Lord. He began to preach 
while he was an apprentice, and probably 
injured his health by too intense study. 
Blessed with a popular talent, followed by 
multitudes, and caressed by the few, he 
13 



194 



MY YOUTHFUL DAYS. 



found it necessary, in order to keep up his 
popularity, to consume the midnight oil, to 
the irreparable injury of his constitution. 
Disease set in, and brought him to a mar- 
tyr's grave. 

The successor of Mr. Taylor, in Derby, 
was the Eev. William Leach, a fine, portly- 
looking man, dignified, lofty, and sedate in 
his bearing; rather rigid in his manners 
and measures ; a good preacher, a good 
disciplinarian, and, I have no doubt, a good 
pastor. But there was a great difference 
between him and Mr. Taylor, who was so- 
ciable, shrewd, and sometimes humorous ; 
and a still greater difference between him 
and Mr. Oakes, who was aff'able, familiar, 
and condescending. When I had made up 
my mind to come to the United States, I 
requested of Mr. Leach and of Mr. Oakes 
letters of introduction. Mr. L. replied, We 
never recommend persons to America.'^ Mr. 
0., on the other hand, gave me three let- 
ters — one to the bishop, one to Mr. Eastburn, 
father of Bishop Eastburn, who had been 
one of his personal friends in England, and 
one to myself. 



TWO YEARS' RESIDENCE IN DERBY. 195 

During my sojourn at Derby I had plenty 
of work as a local preacher, and, in general, 
plenty of employment in the store in the 
intervals of the Sabbath. But before a 
year had elapsed trade had become dull, 
and commerce had declined still more than 
it had done in 1815. In the month of Au- 
gust, 1817, my employer generously allowed 
me five days^ leisure, for the purpose of 
attending the annual conference, Avhich that 
year was held at Sheffield, in Yorkshire. 
On Saturday morning, therefore, by break 
of day, I and my two band-mates, William 
Jones and John Yv^heeldon, started on foot 
for the place. The distance, by the way we 
went, was forty miles ; yet we took time, 
" footed it well,'^ as Bunyan says, and got 
there by dark. We passed through Belper 
just as the operatives were leaving the 
cotton-mills to go to their breakfast. The 
streets were thronged with great numbers 
of persons of both sexes, who appeared 
healthy, and happy, and decently clad. 
We took our dinner at Matlock, at a small 
tavern, among the mountains of feldspar 
and mineral waters, to which hundreds an- 



196 



MY YOUTHFUL DAYS. 



nually repair, for the benefit of the waters 
and the beauty of the scenery. The orna- 
ments made of spar were extremely beauti- 
ful. From Matlock we journeyed onward 
till we came to Chesterfield, at which place, 
being rather foot weary, we rested, and 
called for tea. We were all sons of tem- 
perance, as far as beer, wine, spirituous 
liquors, and tobacco were concerned; but I 
am afraid our waiter, on this occasion, had 
some reason to think we were intemperate 
in the use of tea. 

While at the conference,*! had an oppor- 
tunity of hearing the Eev. Messrs. Thomas 
Eoberts, of Bath, Eobert Johnson, governor of 
Kingswood school, George Smith, missionary, 
E. Watson, Philip Garrett, Thos. Dowty, Thos. 
Eogers, the first Methodist preacher I re- 
member to have heard, and the now eloquent 
and highly esteemed Dr. Beaumont, then 
in his nineteenth year. Mr. Gaulter was 
the president, and Mr. Bunting secretary. 
Twenty-two preachers were received into full 
connection, among whom were Mr. Beaumont 
and Mr. Thomas Savage. Mr. Savage^s ac- 
count of his conversion was very remarkable. 



TWO years' residence in derby. 197 

His father was a professed Atheist. His 
eldest sister had married an officer in the 
army, who, while on foreign service, was 
assassinated by a Spaniard. His superior 
officer sent a letter to the family informing 
them of his death. But, thirteen weeks lefore 
the letter luas received, while the family were 
sitting together in the room, the windows 
closed, the doors fastened, candles lighted, 
and the fire burning, in the month of No- 
vember, they were suddenly alarmed by an 
apparition. The old gentleman doubted 
the reality of all such things, but the offi- 
cer's child cried to go to his father, and the 
wife exclaimed, "It is he; Ihnoivitis; he 
is killed and from that time went into 
mourning. When the letter arrived, the old 
gentleman knew not what to make of it; 
but the rest were convinced, and some of 
them were subsequently converted. During 
conference we attended the morning preach- 
ing at five o'clock, and the evening meetings, 
as well as all the meetings on the Sabbath. 
But we were not permitted to attend the 
deliberations of conference, which I thought 
was very unkind as well as unjust, as we 



198 



MY YOUTHFUL DAYS. 



liad walked forty miles to behold their 
order/^ had done the work of local preachers 
four years, and had paid our quarterage and 
pew rent as promptly as any other members 
in the connection. On Sunday, in the in- 
terval of public worship, we visited one of 
the Sabbath-schools, where were eleven hun- 
dred children — five hundred boys in one room, 
and six hundred girls in another ; and on 
w^eek days we visited the factories, w^here 
cutlery of all sorts is made in great abun- 
dance for both Europe and America. 

Having finished our visit at Sheffield, w^e 
returned, by the way of Alfreton, as hastily 
as we could, having neither time nor money 
sufficient to enable us to visit Buxton, or the 
Peak, or even Chatsworth, the seat of the 
Duke of Devonshire, or any other remark- 
able place in the county. The next Sabbath, 
in the absence of Mr. Oakes, it fell to my 
lot to supply the pulpit in the King-street 
chapel, Derby. I preached from a text 
which was suggested to my mind while re- 
turning from conference, by the spirit of 
love and union which subsisted between me 
and my companions as we walked together 



TWO YEARS' RESIDENCE IN DERBY. 199 

by the way. The text may be found in 
Jeremiah xxxii, 38, 89. 

On the Friday following I saw four men 
hanged at the'jail in Friar Gate, Derby, for 
setting fire to stacks of grain. Friar Gate 
is the longest and widest street in Derby, 
and, I suppose, there were not less than 
twenty thousand persons present to witness 
the execution. Such exhibitions may fright- 
en children; but as to their being of any 
moral benefit, either to the culprits or to 
the community, I very much doubt it. 
These men were convicted, but their guilt 
was doubted by many ; and even if that had 
been proved, ten years' imprisonment might 
have brought them to repentance, and made 
them good and useful men. I knew a man 
who was imprisoned in the county jail of 
Leicester on a charge of treason, but not 
being found guilty in the eye of the law, 
experienced religion w^hile in prison, and 
afterward became a preacher of the gospel, 
and in the end died in peace. 

Great distress prevailed throughout the 
country at this time. The summer was so 
wet and cold that in some instances the 



200 



MY YOUTHFUL DAYS. 



harvest was not gathered, but rotted on the 
ground, and that which was gathered was 
hardly fit to be eaten. Trade was dull, and 
I thought it would be better for me to seek 
a place in London. On the 22d of Septem- 
ber, therefore, I took coach at half-past 
three, P. M., for Newport Pagnel, and after 
traveling all night, (no railroads then I) 
arrived there between three and four the 
next morning. I then walked to Stewkley, 
fourteen miles, alone, and for the greater 
part of the way under the most painful 
apprehension of coming evil that I ever 
endured. On the 24th, after spendiug one 
day with my mother, my brother Daniel 
and I walked to the village of Wing, and 
after making a short stay at my brother 
Eichard's, proceeded to Tring, where my 
brother John then lived. We stayed one 
night with his family, and the next day 
took coach for London, where we arrived 
about eleven o'clock, A. M. It was the day 
on which the new chapel in Great Queen- 
street was opened for public worship. Mr. 
Benson had preached in the forenoon, but 
we were in time to hear Mr. Newton in the 



TWO years' residence in derby. 201 

afternoon, and Mr. Watson in the evening. 
The former preached from 2 Cor. i, 11, and 
the latter from 2 Chron. vi, 40, 41. This 
chapel was said to be the most elegant built 
by the Methodists in the kingdom. It cost 
twelve thousand pounds sterling. The pul- 
pit stands at a distance from the wall, and 
is necessarily very high to correspond with 
the edifice, which has in it two galleries, 
one above the other. The crowd was very 
great in the evening, perhaps three thousand 
persons, and at the close of the service we 
were warned to beware of pickpockets. The 
warning was certainly necessary, for when 
I got home to my brother^s I found that 
my coat was cut across the pocket inside, 
but how, or when it was done, I never 
knew. The little money that I had was in 
another pocket, so the robber got nothing 
for his trouble. The instrument with which 
he cut my coat must have been very sharp, 
and I have ever felt thankful that I was 
not sensible of the operation, for if I had, I 
might have put forth my hand to ascertain 
the cause, and have received a wound that 
would have lamed me for life. 



202 



MY YOUTHFUL BAYS. 



The next day, while walking in the street, 
I was taken very ill, and it was with great 
difficulty that I could get home. My dis- 
ease was probably pleurisy. The pain in my 
side was very severe, and was attended with 
partial delirium. But I was at my brother's, 
and was well taken care of. His family 
physician, Mr. Benson, son of the Eev. 
Joseph Benson, attended me, and in less 
than two weeks, through the blessing of 
God, and the kind attention of my friends, 
I was able to leave the city. Perhaps this 
was the trouble of which I had a presenti- 
ment a few days before. But why are we 
not always warned of danger near ? I can- 
not tell. Perhaps we should be if we were 
to live nearer to God by faith and humble 
prayer. The same day that I left London 
I arrived at Stewkley, the home of my child- 
hood, but now no home to me, as my father 
was dead, and my mother was a widow. I 
therefore tarried only one night, and the 
next day walked to Ampthill, where I spent 
four days with my old friends. The next 
day I attended the anniversary of the Bed- 
fordshire Bible Society, at which His Grace 



TWO years' residence in derby. 203 

the Duke of Bedford presided, and Samuel 
Whitbread, Esq., was one of the speakers. 
Finding no opening for business either in 
London or Bedfordshire, I made up my 
mind to return to Derby. In doing this, I 
stayed a day and a night at Northampton. 
While there, I had the pleasure of taking 
tea with a company of preachers, among 
whom was Mr. Watson. The conversation 
of Mr. Watson and his friends was exceed- 
ingly interesting; it was all on religious 
subjects, and on some of the great doctrines 
of divine revelation. The Methodist chapel 
in Northampton had undergone some repairs 
and improvements, and Mr. Watson was 
there to preach the dedication sermon. He 
took for his text 2 Chron. vi. 41, 42. This 
was the third time I heard him from the 
same text, but it was none the worse for 
being repeated. A very interesting account 
of the manner in which this text was sug- 
gested to Mr. Watson, is given in the me- 
moirs of his life, by Mr. Jackson. Mr. 
Watson was at the house of his friend, Mr. 
Garbutt, of Hull, and, in the course of con- 
versation, said to Mr. G-., " I have engaged 



204 



MY YOUTHFUL DAYS. 



to preacli at the opening of a new chapel in 
Leeds; the time is drawing near, and, do 
^yhat I may, I cannot think of a snitable 
text/' I asked him,'' says Mr. G., if he 
had ever thought of Solomon's beautiful 
prayer at the dedication of the temple? 
He said he had not ; and on referring to it, 
he Avas exceedingly struck with 2 Chron. 
vi, 41, 42. A train of thought was presented 
to his view ; his active mind was at work ; 
he retired from the company, and after- 
ward read to me the greater part of the 
very copious notes of a sermon which he 
had founded upon that passage." — Watson's 
Life, 8vo. edition^ p. 146. 

At the missionary meeting in Derby this 
year, (1818,) I had the pleasure of hearing 
the Eev. Eobert Wood preach his famous 
missionary sermon from Isaiah Ixii, 1, and 
took copious notes at the time ; but, lest I 
should do him injustice, I will not print 
them. At the public meeting, I had the 
pleasure of hearing Mr. Wood again. His 
address was in true military style. He 
compared the Protestant benevolent portions 
of the Christian community to an army ; the 



TWO YEARS* RESIDENCE IN DERBY. 205 



Bible Society to the main 'body ; the Mis- 
sionary Societies to the right wing ; the 
Tract Society to the left wing ; the Society 
for Promoting Christian Knowledge, the 
vanguard ; and the Sunday school, to a corps 
of reserve, to bring up the rear. This 
army has to do battle for the Lord against 
all the powers of darkness ; of which there 
are 500,000,000 of Pagans, 150,000,000 Mo- 
hammedans, 100,000,000 Papists, 30,000,000 
of the Greek and Armenian Churches, and 
about 10,000,000 of Jews and infidels. He 
then spoke of arms and ammunition, mili- 
tary tactics, &c., and called for a good sup- 
ply of gold and silver balls, copper bullets, 
and plenty of paper cartridges to fire them 
off with. James Montgomery, Esq., the 
poet, was present, and spoke of the suffer- 
ings of missionaries, especially of the Mo- 
ravians, in Greenland, Labrador, &c. Mr. 
Watson was there, and followed Mr. Montr 
gomery in a speech of some length. The 
collection was about $400, and that at 
Belper, the week before, $250. 

While I was at Derby I narroAvly escaped 
death in two instances. The first was in 



206 



MY YOUTHFUL DAYS. 



the winter of 1816. I had Avalked to Dale 
Abbey, about eight miles, on Sunday morn- 
ing, to fill an appointment there in the 
afternoon of that day. The path lay 
through fields and meadows, saturated with 
rain and melted snow. By the time I got 
there my boots and stockings were as wet 
as if I had forded the river; but I was so 
diffident that I dare not ask for a change 
of shoes and stockings, but sat and stood in 
my wet clothes till it was time to return. 
The consequence of this imprudence "was a 
violent cold, and a severe fit of inflammatory 
rheumatism, Avhich rendered me helpless for 
several weeks. My employer occupied an 
old house which was built for a bank. 
Every part was intended to be fire-proof. 
The floors of the chambers were not of pine, 
and covered with carpet, but of cement, as 
hard and as cold as polished marble. There 
was no fire in the room. The wife of my 
employer, and the rest of his family, except 
a sister and a servant girl, lived at Quarn- 
don, three miles from Derby. My mother 
was too far away to come and see her sick j 
boy. I had no sister to sit by my bed-side ] 



TWO YEARS' RESIDENCE IN DERBY. 207 

to minister to my wants, and, indeed, no 
one could sit long at a time in a cold room 
like that, on a stone floor, without a carpet, 
and without fire. The apprentice, who used 
to sleep with me, had betrayed his trust, 
and was dismissed, and, of course, I had to 
be alone. The sister of my employer, and 
the hired girl, filled the place of a motherly 
sister, and nurse, so to speak, or I might 
have perished; for I was dreadfully sick, 
and as helpless as a child. Any kind of 
sickness is bad enough in winter, but the 
inflammatory rheumatism, though it is not 
considered dangerous, if it can be kept from 
the head and the heart, is about as hard to 
bear as any sickness one would desire. The 
way in which I employed my thoughts dur- 
ing this season of affliction, may be gathered 
from a little poem, entitled " Grace and 
Providence,^^ which I composed as I lay on 
my bed, (Psalm Ixiii, 6 ; Sol. Song iii, 1,) and 
afterwards committed to writing, as soon as 
I was able. 

The other circumstance was this : On 
Wednesday, the 10th of June, 1818, I came 
near being drowned. I had never learned 



208 



MY YOUTHFUL DAYS. 



to swim, and was very desirous of learning 
that useful practice. My predecessor in the 
store was drowned in the river, and I was 
not willing to trust myself in that treacher- 
ous stream ; so I went into the canal, near 
one of the locks, where the water was wide, 
and deep enough for the purpose. At first 
I succeeded pretty well, but soon got tired, 
and began to sink. As I rose, I made a 
desperate effort to reach the shore, and 
after touching the bottom with my feet 
three times, I gained the farther bank at 
last,^^ and placed my feet on solid ground 
once more. For a moment I was frighten- 
ed, but my recollection and my courage 
never forsook me ; and though I thought, 
while under the water, that I should be 
drowned, I believed it to be my duty to try 
and save myself, and, in trying, I succeed- 
ed. Since that I have never attempted to 
swim. 

The time was now drawing nigh for me 
to leave Derby. On the 15th of July I 
took coach for London, and on the Sabbath 
following spent the day with a few friends 
at Camberwell. In the evening, at Peck- 



TWO YEARS' RESIDENCE IN DERBY. 209 

ham, I heard Dr. Collyer. His text was 
1 Samuel xv, 13, 14, and his sermon was 
an eloquent and faithful expose of the 
treachery of the human heart, as exhibited 
in the conduct of Saul, king of Israel. Not 
finding a situation to my liking in London, 
I paid one more visit to my native place, 
and while there preached my first and last 
sermon in the village where I was born. 
The occasion was the death of a distant 
relative, and my text was Job xiv, 14. In 
the course of a few days I returned to 
Derby, and on the following Sabbath, in 
company with another local preacher, as 
was the custom, held a love-feast at Chellas- 
ton. The next Sabbath (August 9) was 
the anniversary of the opening of the chapel 
at Derby. I then had an opportunity of 
hearino; Mr. Newton three times. He was 
in his prime, being, as I suppose, about 
forty years of age. His personal appear- 
ance, voice, manner, and style of preaching, 
were all greatly in his favor. His locks 
were bushy, and black as a raven his 
form erect, and his forehead fair ; his voice 
deep-toned, sonorous, and clear; and his 
14 



210 



MY YOUTHFUL DAYS. 



style of preaching, though differing but 
little from what it was when he was in this 
country, was, perhaps, more vigorous and 
captivating. At any rate, one could hardly 
endure to hear an ordinary preacher either 
read a hymn or make a prayer in the same 
place on the same day. 

The same night, at twelve o'clock, after 
hearing Mr. Newton three times, I took 
coach again for London, having heard of a 
situation after I left it. On my way I 
called at Northampton, to pay another visit 
to my friend J. C. Boddington, formerly 
the principal of a classical boarding-school 
at Ampthill, but now residing at North- 
ampton. On Monday evening I complied 
with the wish of Mr. Boddington, and his 
friend Mr. Wilde, and preached a short dis- 
course in the chapel where I had lately 
heard Mr. Watson. By an association of 
ideas, of which I could not easily divest 
myself at that time and place, thoughts of 
Doddridge, Cowper, Hervey, and the author 
of The Theological Institutes, often flitted 
across my mind while I was there ; but in 
my sermon, I fear, there was little of the 



TWO years' residence in derby. 211 



piety, the poetry, or the eloquence, of those 
remembered ornaments of the Church in 
that part of my native land. 

In London, though I had obtained what 
was considered a good situation, with a 
comfortable salary, and though I boarded 
at my brother's, and had the privilege of 
hearing the best of preachers, I was not 
contented; and while listening to a dis- 
course, one Sunday evening, in Hoxton 
chapel, from the Avords of Christ, Luke 
XV, 7, 1 thought thus within myself, — ''Lon- 
don is not the place for me ; I ought to go 
as a missionary, and preach the gospel to 
those who need it.'^ I had often thought 
so before ; had offered myself, and might 
have gone, but sickness prevented me, — 
and, perhaps, it was all for the best. 



212 



MY YOUTHFUL DAYS. 



CHAPTER XIII. 

FAREWELL TO MY NATIVE LAND. 
The last link is "broken that loound me to thee.-'^ 

Toward the latter end of August I called 
at the Book Room, City Road, to get the 
Magazine for September, and Avhile there 
I very unexpectedly met with my old and 
particular friend, Mr. James Davidson. We 
first became acquainted with each other when 
we were local preachers, on the Bedford cir- 
cuit. He then lived at the Duke of Bed- 
ford's, in the capacity of a gardener, and I 
at Ampthill, in that of a "linen draper 
bold.'' We had not seen each other for 
nearly twelve months, and I knew not what 
had become of him. He now informed me 
that he was about to embark for the United 
States of America. The moment he said 
this I beo^an to feel strong: desires to accom- 
pany him, and when I made known my 
mind to him he seemed overjoyed. We 
agreed to meet again the next day and talk 
the matter over, and if my brother favored 



FAREWELL TO MY NATIVE LAND. 213 

the project, I resolved, in my own mind, to 
go to America. Accordingly, we met the 
next day, consulted my brother, obtained 
his consent, and a little help in the time of 
need, without which I could not have come, 
as I was low in funds^^ at that time, hav- 
ing been frequently sick, some time out of 
employment; and at great expense traveling 
about from place to place. The time was 
too short for me to go and bid my mother 
farewell, so I wrote to her, and informed 
her whither I was going. I also wrote to 
Messrs. Taylor, Leach, Oakes, Sowter, and 
Hackett, " desiring letters of commenda- 
tion.^^ Mr. Oakes sent me three, Mr. 
Hackett two, and Mr. Sowter one. Mr. 
Oakes spoke of me as a preacher, Mr.. 
Sowter commended me as a clerk, and Mr. 
Hackett as a member of his class. I had 
not reported myself in London, as a mem- 
ber, or preacher, in the Methodist Connec- 
tion, and therefore could not have obtained 
even a certificate. I had heaps of quarterly 
tickets from 1803 to 1818, and printed 
plans of different circuits on which I had 
labored as a local preacher ; but these did 



214 



MY YOUTHrUL DAYS. 



not satisfy me. Mr. Davidson had received 
a line from Mr. Blanchard, the book stew- 
ard in London, certifying liis membership 
and good standing as a local preacher, but 
he lost it before we arrived in this country. 
It was, therefore, well for him and for me, 
that I had forethought enough to procure 
these necessary credentials. What is a 
stranger to do in a foreign country without 
letters of recommendation? He may, to 
be sure, introduce himself, and tell his own 
story, as I have known many to do. But it 
is for others to believe them or not. The 
letters I brought with me, thanks to a kind 
Providence, answered every purpose : they 
introduced me to all concerned ; they paved 
the way into the traveling connection ; the 
fame of them reached my first circuit before 
I arrived there ; and, what to me is still 
better, the purport of them has been con- 
firmed by many letters since. 

Having made our arrangements for the 
voyage, we returned to my brother's, in 
Hoxton Square, to take our last night^s 
lodging in London. The watchman, by 
request, called us up at three o'clock. My 



FAREWELL TO MY NATIVE LAND. 215 

sister-ill-law provided for us a comfortable 
breakfast. My brother accompanied us to 
the ship, which lay at anchor at Glravesend, 
about thirty miles down the river. He saw 
us on board, and then returned with the 
packet to London. The next day was the 
Sabbath, but a very unsabbatical day to us. 
The seamen were employed taking in cargo 
and ballast, and the passengers in arrang- 
ing matters, and answering questions at 
the alien office, previous to our departure. 
While we were thus detained, my careful 
brother came again, with the packet, from 
London, to bring me the letters referred to 
above. They had come by mail from Derby, 
after we left London, and my brother judg- 
ing them to be of importance, took the 
pains to bring them to us on board. As 
he took his final leave, he said to me, Fare- 
well, my dear brother! If you succeed in 
America, let us hear from you often. If 
you do not, come back ; I will receive you, 
if nobody else will.'' This was all he said, 
but his looks seemed to say — 

"I have not loved liglitly, 1^11 tMnk of thee yet; 
1^11 pray for thee nightly, till life's sun is set." 



216 



MY YOUTHFUL DAYS, 



My brother was a member of a class that 
met in the City Eoad chapel. He died a 
few years since, and was interred in the 
same burying ground that contains the 
ashes of Mr. Wesley, Dr. Adam Clarke, and 
Mr. Watson. 

I now took my leave of the great and 
busy city of London — the metropolis of 
the world,'^ as Dr. Humphrey calls it — with 
less emotion, perhaps, than some might 
imagine ! I was not disjoosed, either by 
inclination or habit, to be a politician, and 
too little interested in public affairs to listen 
to the debates in Parliament ; too busy to 
spend my time in viewing public buildings, 
splendid palaces, and magnificent works in 
the arts and sciences. St. PauFs, West- 
minster Abbey, and the British Museum, 
are nearly all the public places I visited. I 
was too religious to attend theatres, operas, 
and all other places of amusement, even 
once, and too republican to care anything 
about seeing the king or queen. There 
are, however, many things in and about 
London, which make it to me the most in- 
teresting city in the world. And if any 



FAREWELL TO MY NATIVE LAND. 217 

one who may read these little sketches, 
wish to know more of the magnificence of 
the place, the wealth of England, and the 
character of the English, I would recom- 
mend him to read Dr. Humphrey's Tour.'" 
The doctor is thoroughly American in his 
feelings, and at the same time so candid 
and correct in his statements, that I think 
he is equally free from partiality on the 
one hand, as from prejudice on the other. 
Speaking of the wealth of England, the 
doctor says: ^'During the French revolu- 
tionary war, which broke out in 1793 and 
lasted till 1802 ; and the war against Bo- 
naparte, which began in 1803 and ended 
in 1815, the expenditures of Great Britain 
were eight thousand millions of dollars ! Was 
there ever any other nation since the world 
began that could have raised one-third of 
this sum, without utter bankruptcy and 
ruin? And be it remembered tha.t nine- 
tenths of this incredible sum was as much 
lost to the nation as if it had been thrown 
into the Atlantic; and yet there is no count- 

See also London in Olden Times, and Modern 
London, Nos. 492 and 508, Youth's Library. 



218 



MY YOUTHFUL DAYS. 



ing her remaining treasures. It is true her 
national debt is enormous — hetiveen eight and 
niiie hundred millions of pov.nds !— under 
the weight of which, it has often been pre- 
dicted, she must one day sink to rise no 
more ! But to whom does she owe this 
debt ? To France? to Eussia? to the United 
States ? No ; but to herself, that is, to her 
own people. Not a dollar of it is due to 
any foreign nation; so that if the British 
government were to declare itself bankrupt 
to-morrow, the nation would be just as rich 
as it is now. It would be an act of extreme 
injustice to all the fund-holders, to be sure, 
and would ruin thousands of families ; but 
the money would all remain in the country 
— and Britain would continue to be, as she 
is, by far the richest nation in the world.'^— 
Vol. I, p. 193. 

Having taken my last farewell of the 
crowded cities, splendid buildings, fertile 
fields, and pleasant walks of my native 
land, with a very limited knowledge of men 
and things, less of sound wisdom and dis- 
cretion, and still less of that which Solomon 
says (Eccles. x, 19) " answereth all things/^ 



FAREWELL TO MY NATIVE LAND. 219 

I embarked with my companions, James and 
Lydia Davidson, on board the old ship Duke 
of Marlborough, for the United States of 
America. Unlike our Mexican volunteers 
and California gold seekers, we were neither 
impelled by the love of fame, nor the pros- 
pect of wealth, to tempt the dangers of the 
ocean, and try our fortunes in a foreign 
land. But we thought that, in the order of 
Providence, we had a call to go abroad ; and 
we could say- — 

" His call we obey, like Abram of old ; 
We know not the way, but faith makes us bold ; 
For though we are strangers we have a sure Guide, 
And trust in all dangers, The Lord will provided' 

I had never seen the great deep — the 
mighty ocean, — and, of course, everything 
belonging to a sea voyage was marvelously 
interesting. I had no dread of sea-sickness, 
or fears of being cast away ; I knew nothing 
of the perils of the sea, and thought but 
little about them ; but, buoyant in spirit, 
and joyful in hope, I slept as soundly on 
the tossing wave, as I have since on solid 
ground. And yet there is something aw- 
fully sublime in being day after day, and 



220 MY YOUTHFUL BAYS. 

niglit after niglit, floating on tlie watery 
deep, in a frail vessel, at tlie mercy of the 
wind and waves ; on every hand a wide 
waste of waters, perhaps a thousand miles 
from land ; overhead the starry firmament, 
underneath the fathomless ahyss ; should 
a fire break out in the hold, or the ship 
spring a leak, and no friendly sail be in 
sight, to render us aid in such a case, re- 
fuge can only he found in 7'esignation,^' 



VOYAGE ACROSS THE ATLANTIC. 221 



CHAPTER XIV. 
VOYAGE ACROSS THE ATLANTIC. 

For aught we knew, as midsummer was 
past, we might run foul of an iceberg that 
had broken loose from its companions in the 
northern seas ; ^ or we might encounter the 
fierce tornado, and the dreadful hurricane, 
which sometimes are so sudden that no art 
can evade them, and so destructive that no 
power can withstand them. Or we might 
be in the same situation as were Paul and 
his companions, wdien neither sun, nor 
moon, nor stars appeared for many days 
and in that case we might lose our reckon- 
ing, run foul of another ship, and founder 
in the mighty ocean. Indeed, the dangers 
are so many and so great, that the wonder 
is, not that so many mariners are lost, but 
that so many escape. 

The sea also affords matter for profitable 
reflection. It is an inexhaustible store- 

See *' Encounter with an Iceberg/^ Christian Ad- 
vocate and Journal for May 15, 1851. 



222 



MY YOUTHFUL BAYS. 



house for food, where all manner of fish 
live, thrive, and multiply, without expense 
to man. Unlike the earth, which is divided 
into countries, kingdoms, and estates, the 
sea is the property of all nations ; and its 
productions are free for any one who will 
be at the pains to take them. It is the im- 
measurable and exhaustless source of clouds 
and rain, which, by the silent, viewless, and 
constant process of evaporation, are drawn 
from its bosom, and being borne on the 
light wings of the wind, are carried to the 
place where they are needed, and made to 
descend in fruitful showers upon the thirsty 
land. (See Dr. Clarke\s Notes on Job 
xxxvii, 11-13.) 

"I love the sea, she is mj fellow-creature; 

My careful purveyor ; she provides me store ; 

She walls me round, she makes my diet greater ; 

She wafts me treasure from a foreign shore ; — 
But, Lord of oceans, when compared to thee, 
What is the ocean, or her wealth to me 

Quarles^ Emhlenis. 

Moreover, as Bishop Horne remarks, in 
his notes on the 107th Psalm, The world 
is a sea — the Church is a ship — life is a 



VOYAGE ACROSS THE ATLANTIC. 223 

voyage — and lieaven is tlie port of endless 
rest.'^ Yes, heaven is the port 

" Where all the ship's company meet, 

Who saiPd with the Saviour beneath ; 
With shouting each other they greet, 

And triumph o'er sorrow and death ; 
The Yoyage of life 's at an end ; 

The mortal affliction is past ; 
The age that in heaven they spend, 

Forever and ever shall last/^ 

C. Wesley. 

When we embarked on board The Duke 
of Marlborough/^ at Gravesend, for the 
United States, the weather was as calm 
and as pleasant as it is wont to be in those 
latitudes in the months of September and 
October, and so it continued for more than 
half the voyage. But before we reached 
these hospitable shores the wintry winds of 
JSTovember began to blow upon the broad 
Atlantic, from the north-west; and the Gulf 
stream, or contrary currents, or somerthing 
else, carried us into warmer regions. At 
one time we supposed, from the mildness of 
the weather, that we were not far from 
Bermuda. Then, again, a change came on, 



MY YOUTHFUL DAYS. 



and we ^yere lost in tlie fog, on the banks 
of Xewfounclland. But before we really 
kneY/ our latitude or our longitude, we 
were actually becalmed for several days, 
and then it was that I thought of those 
beautiful words of the poet, which, when in 
England, I used to sing : — i 

"At anchor laid, and far from home, 

Toiling I cry, Sweet Spirit, come ; 

Celestial breeze, no longer stay, ^ 

But swell my sails and speed my way." ] 

I 

We were not really " at anchor,^^ but ^ 
without the auspicious gale,'' we could no j 
more move than if we had been fastened to j 
our moorings in the river. And so it is g 
with the sinner, the fair moralist, the proud ( 
Pharisee, who would sail for the port of end- j 
less rest, without the aid of the Holy Spirit, 
He may think his vessel is well built, well of 
provisioned, well manned ; he may even 
square the yards, and spread the sails, and p. 
point toward heaven. But what of that? f^. 
The poet was right when he said — 

].- 

" But I can only spread my sail, 

Tho2i, thou must breathe the auspicious gale." 



VOYAGE ACROSS THE ATLANTIC. 225 

Our Sabbaths, while at sea, were, prob- 
ably, spent as pleasantly and as profitably 
as they could be, considering the disagree- 
able circumstances in which we were placed. 
Our ship was small, and, judging from ap- 
pearances, hardly sea-worthy. Our captain 
did not appear to be a very experienced 
navigator, but his first mate seemed to 
understand his business thoroughly. Our 
ship's company was not large, but in that 
little band there was as great a variety as 
I ever saw within so small a circle. There 
were English, Scotch, Irish, German, French, 
Italian, an African, a Canadian, and an 
Anglo-Saxon-American. Our captain was 
a Londoner, and, probably, a member of the 
Church of England ; at any rate, when the 
first Sabbath came, after we were fairly out 
of sight of land, and beyond the jurisdiction 
of the Bishop of London, we were called to- 
gether, by the ringing of the bell, to attend 
prayers on deck. The weather was delight- 
fully calm, and the surface of the' ocean as 
unruffled as the placid bosom of a sylvan 
lake ; the captain read part of the morning 
service, as it stands in the prayer-book; but 
15 



226 



MY YOUTHFUL DAYS. 



there was neither singing nor sermon, which 
I regretted the more, as the season was so 
favorable to devotion. Could my friend, 
the Eev. Isaac Bradnack, and the singers 
from Bedford, have been there, I question 
if I should have been willing to exchange 
the services of that hour, for those of any 
of our splendid chapels either in London or 
elsewhere ! But as the captain gave us no 
sermon, and as the voice of praise was not 
heard, Brother Davidson and I offered our 
services in the evening, for the benefit of 
the steerage passengers and crew. Our 
offer was accepted, and, at the hour appoint- 
ed, we began by singing Dr. Watt's version 
of the 100th Psalm, Before Jehovah's 
awful throne," &c., which was followed by 
prayer. Brother Davidson then read one 
of Archbishop Tillotson's sermons, on Luke 
xii, 31, and I concluded with prayer. All 
present gave great attention. One only 
found fault, and he, an Antinomian, only 
with the sermon, which he thought was 
too legal." We had one Methodist, besides 
ourselves, in the company, and he seemed, 
he expressed himself, vastly pleased 



VOYAGE ACROSS THE ATLANTIC. 227 



with the proceedings.^^ From the 20th 'to 
the 2 2d of September we encountered strong 
gales of wind from the north-west. On the 
22d, toward evening, the captain gave or- 
ders to close-reef the main-topsail. The 
gale increased, and was soon at its height. 
I was very anxious to witness " a storm at 
sea/^ and, contrarj^ to orders, remained on 
deck, while all the other passengers were 
cooped up below. Pretty soon I lost the 
use of my " sea legs,^^ as the phrase is, and 
found myself going to leeward faster than 
I wished ; I then clung to the shrouds, and 
saved myself from going overboard. 

At ihis dreadful moment a young man 
fell from the weather-yard-arm on the deck, 
within a few feet of where I then stood. 
He was taken up and carried into the cabin, 
and died within about an hour. We had no 
surgeon on board to let blood, or set a broken 
bone, or perhaps his life might have been 
spared. It w^as said he was a Eussian by 
birth, but I fear he knew nothing of experi- 
mental religion. Perhaps he had no pious 
mother to pray for him, or, in answer to her 
prayers, he might have fallen into the sea 



228 



MY YOUTHFUL DAYS. 



inBtead of on the deck, and escaped with his 
life. 

The next morning, at nine o'clock, we 
were all summoned on deck to witness a 
" burial at sea.'- The storm had subsided, 
the air was calm, and the sky unclouded, 
but the " restless ocean'' refused to " be 
still." The Eedeemer was there, but not 
in his miracle-working power. A deep and 
solemn sense of his majesty and mercy 
rested upon some of our minds, if not upon 
all. The body of the poor sailor-boy was 
wrapped in canvass, with a bag of chalk 
stones at the feet to sink it in the ocean. 
It was laid on one of the main batches, 
close to the gangway. The captain read 
the burial service as it is in the Episcopal 
prayer-book, and when he pronounced the 
words, " We therefore commit his body," 
instead of saying "to the earth," he changed 
the words, and said, to the deep orders 
were then instantly obeyed, and all that 
was mortal of this young man was sunk 
beneath the wave, there to rest till " the 
sea shall give up her dead." The colleagues 
of the late Dr. Coke, who was buried at sea, 



VOYAGE ACROSS THE ATLANTIC. 229 



seemed to prefer that mode of interment ; 
and I have heard the Eev. E. T. Taylor, 
the mariners' preacher at Boston, talk elo- 
quently about having the clear unsullied 
waves of the ocean for his bed, the sea-weed 
for his winding-sheet, the coral for his pil- 
low,'' and I do not know what for his head- 
stone ; but for my own part I should prefer 
being laid in a dry sandy soil, in an ele- 
vated spot, near some shady grove, where 
the birds might sing among the branches 
of the trees, and the gentle breezes might 
kiss the flowers that bloomed over my 
grave ; and if I should leave only one 
friend on earth, that friend might visit the 
spot. 

When we had been three weeks at sea we 
discovered a sail in sight,'' Ayhich proved 
to be an East Indiaman, on h^r way from 
Bombay to Liverpool. Soon after we saw 
her we hoisted our colors, which she speedily 
answered, and being to windward of us soon 
bore down upon us. It was to us matter of 
rejoicing that, as it was a time of peace, we 
had no reason to think that this strange sail 
was an enemy, or a privateer, or a pirate. 



230 



MY YOUTHFUL DAYS. 



When, tlierefore, slie was witliin a short 
distance, we lowered the jolly-boat, which 
was soon rowed toward the friendly vessel. 
It was in the afternoon of a very pleasant 
day, and it was a beautiful sight to behold 
the gallant vessels lying to, and the little 
boat tossing up and down between them. 
In a few minutes our boat was alongside 
the Indiaman, and after transacting some 
little business, returned. I took the oppor- 
tunity, while the vessels were nearing each 
other, to write a letter to my brother in 
London; and I afterwards understood that it 
was very gratifying to my friends to learn 
that at the time the letter was written we 
were, in reality, half seas' over,^^ or, in other 
words, we were about midway between the 
port of London and that of jSIew-York. 

Soon after this our voyage began to be 
rather tedious. But the unpleasant feelings 
induced by sailing slowly many days,^^ 
were greatly mitigated by reading aloud to 
a little group, an interesting account of the 
first mission to the islands of the Pacific, in 
the ship Duff*. The book was owned by a 
fellow-passenger, named Benham, who had 



VOYAGE ACROSS THE ATLANTIC. 231 



worked in tlie king's clock-yard, Plymouth. 
He kncAv Captain Wilson, and several of the 
missionaries, and lived at Portsmouth at the 
time they sailed. And what made it still 
more interesting to me was the fact that I 
had recently read the memoir of Captain 
Wilson, had been at his house in Camber- 
well, near London, to see a townsman of 
mine, who lived there in the capacity of a 
footman, from whom I heard many pleasing 
accounts of that intrepid voyager and friend 
of the missionary cause. Captain Wilson 
had been in the East India service, was once 
a prisoner in the Black-hole at Calcutta, 
and endured almost unparalleled sufferings 
while abroad, and before he was brought to 
the knowledge of the truth. And if 
escapes from dangers, which excluded every 
hope ; if privations and sufferings, which 
few of his fellow-sufferers survived; if de- 
liverance from miseries, the severest that 
humanity could endure ; if the continuance 
of health, while almost all around were 
sickening and dying; if restoration from 
diseases, which were almost universally 
fatal, had been sufficient to convert a sin- 



232 



MY YOUTHFUL DAYS. 



ner from tlie error of liis ways, their efficacy 
had heen exemplified in the conversion of 
Captain Wilson. But miseries and mercies 
had alike failed of effecting any salutary 
impressions on his heart. He rejected the 
word of God, and was wholly unconcerned 
about eternity. In this state of mind, after 
a fit of sickness, at the suggestion of a 
friend, he took up The Christian Officer^s 
Panoply, a useful work in defence of Chris- 
tianity, written by Major-General Burn, of 
the Eoyal Marines. This work, under God, 
was the instrument of his conversion ; and 
from that time, to promote the glory of his 
Creator and Saviour, and the good of his 
fellow-men, became the object of his ardent 
pursuit. When the Missionary Society, in- 
stituted in London in 1795, proposed send- 
ing a vessel with missionaries to the islands 
of the Pacific Ocean, Captain W. oflfered 
himself to conduct the voyage without any 
pecuniary reward. His offer was accepted, 
the work was accomplished, the mission 
succeeded, the captain returned to his com- 
fortable retreat at Camberwell, near Lon- 
don, and, after a number of years, died, a 



VOYAaE ACROSS THE ATLANTIC. 233 



distinguished ornament of the faith he once 
derided and despised/' 

I have frequently iioticed, with delightful 
emotions, the glorious, and, I may say, gor- 
geous ap23earance of the sky at sunset, when 
on land, but I know of nothing on terra 
firma that can equal in grandeur and 
beauty such a scene as I beheld at sea in 
the month of October, 1818. On the even- 
ing of the sixth of that month, after enjoy- 
ing, with my fellow-passengers, a delightful 
sail of tv/enty-four hours' fair wind, I was 
standing on the deck, looking, with wishful 
eye, toward the far west, just as the sun 
went down. I thought of home, I thought 
of heaven, then of that good land to which 
our course was directed; and certainly, for 
once, I did wish our voyage might soon 
come to an end. And then, for a moment, 
thoughts of danger and disappointment, 
and of sickness and death among strangers, 
in a city which I had never seen, or in 
the far-off wilderness, where, perhaps, it 
might be my lot to travel, would press 
upon my mind, and then, again, I 
thought — 



234 



MY YOUTHFUL DAYS, 



Should fate command me to the farthest verge 
Of the green earth, to distant barbarous climes, 
Rivers unknown to song ; where first the sun 
Gilds Indian mountains, or his setting beam 
Flames on the Atlantic Isles, -'tis naught to me, 
Since God is ever present, ever felt. 
In the void waste, as in the city full ; 
And where he vital breathes there must be joy/^ 

Thomson's Seasons. 

The words of Dr. Watts did not tlieii 
occur to me, or I miglit have sung them, as 
I have often done since, for they were liter- 
ally true in that case : — 

"How fine has the day been, how bright was the sun, 
How lovely and joyful the course that he run. 
Though he rose in a mist, when his race he begun. 

And there followed some droppings of rain ; 
But now the fair traveler ^s come to the west — 
His rays are all gold, and his beauties are best, 
As he paints the sky gay, now he sinks to his rest. 

And foretells a bright rising again/^ 

The day following that glorious sunset 
was as fine, and as fair, and almost as ay arm, 
as any day in July ; but the Tuesday fol- 
lowing the weather was most piercing cold. 
How to account for this sudden and great 
change I could not imagine, never having 
witnessed the like in London, or in any 



VOYAGE ACROSS THE ATLANTIC. 235 

other place. Such changes, however, I have 
frequently experienced since, and that no 
longer ago than the present season, (1851.) 

On some occasions sunrise at sea affords as 
pleasing a spectacle as sunset; not so bril- 
liant, so splendid, so gorgeous, but equally 
gratifying to the eye, the mind, the heart ; 
for as a glorious victory is followed by tears, 
and suffering, and sorrow, and the com- 
mencement of a season of peace is followed 
by smiles, and joy, and plenty, so a glorious 
sunset is followed by the darkness and dan- 
gers of night, and a cloudless sunrise is 
followed by the light and safety of day. 

It was on the 27th of October, when we 
had been at sea more than seven weeks, 
when our stock of provisions began to fail, 
and we were put on short allowance, that 
the news of a "fine morning and fair wind^' 
sounded through our ranks, and brought 
many a weary passenger on deck to behold 
the king of day emerging from the briny 
deep. O how delightful it was to behold 
him coming out of the chambers of the east, 
and "rejoicing as a strong man to run a 
race.'^ His color, at first, was a deep crim- 



236 



MY YOUTHFUL DAYS, 



son, tlien scarlet, then orange, then like 
hurnished gold. About noon the breeze 
increased, which helped us on most charm- 
ingly. 0 what a splendid sight it is to be- 
hold, from the quarter-deck of one vessel, 
when under full sail, another vessel, with 
all her sails set, both moving before the 
viewless wind, in the same direction, gayly 
and merrily towards their destined port! 
But it is often at sea as it is on the ocean 
of life, — a bright morning is succeeded by a 
cloudy afternoon, and a fair day is but the 
precursor of foul weather. It was so with 
us. The next three days after that glo- 
rious sunrise, were the most uncomfortable 
of all the thirty-one days of October. It 
was often a source of amusement to me, 
during the latter part of the time we were 
on shipboai*d, to talk with the passengers, 
and listen to their calculations on the prob- 
able length of the voyage. One good old 
man, of no particular denomination, but a 
great believer in coincidences, considered 
England as the house of bondage, and 
America as the land of promise ; our ship^s 
company as true Israelites, on our journey 



VOYAGE ACROSS THE ATLANTIC. 237 

to the Canaan of rest. He had no fears 
that any of us should come short through 
unbelief, but was actually of the opinion, at 
the former part of the voyage, that, as the 
ancient Israelites were forty years in the 
v>dlderness, we should be forty days on the 
ocean. Poor man I all his calculations fail- 
ed. His forty days' voyage proved to be 
one of twice that length; and instead of a 
clerkship in New- York, at a salary of ^500 
a year, which he hoped to realize, he found 
nothing to do but to sell almanacs, and 
other little books, and hardly enough of 
that to keep him from starving. 



238 



UY YOUTHFUL DAYS. 



CHAPTER XV. 
HALIFAX, NOVA SCOTIA. 

Our voyage across the Atlantic was griev- 
ously protracted, but it came to an end at 
last. When we had been seven weeks and 
seven hours out of sight of land, and knew 
not that we should ever set foot on shore 
again ; when our little stock of provisions 
was almost gone, and fears of starvation 
occasionally flitted across the mind ; on the 
never-to-be-forgotten first of November, 
1818, about four o'clock, P.M., the coast of 
Nova Scotia appeared in sight ! We were 
somewhat disappointed that it was not Sandy 
Hook, but were glad to find ourselves, though 
late in the season, anywhere on this side of 
the Atlantic. What a mercy it was that it 
was not at Cape Breton, or Newfoundland, 
at that inclement season of the year. By 
eight o'clock, P. M., with the aid of a pilot, 
we were safely moored in Halifax Bay. On 
Monday morning, about nine o'clock, we 
went ashore, and between ten and eleven 



HALIFAX, NOVA SCOTIA. 239 

partook of a plentiful breakfast, consisting 
of fresh bread and butter, beef-steak, and 
the best fresh fish I ever tasted, with tea 
and coffee served up in first-rate style. 
They who wished for ardent spirits were 
supplied, at a very moderate charge ; but 
most of us were in such good spirits, seeing 
we had got safe to land, that we needed no 
stimulants. The greatest difficulty lay in 
keeping from eating too much, as we had 
been kept on short allowance for more than 
two weeks. After breakfast brother David- 
son and I waited on the venerable William 
Black, a supernumerary Methodist preacher, 
and on Mr. James Dunbar, resident mission- 
ary, both of whom showed us great kind- 
ness. 

When we left England we little thought 
we should see Nova Scotia; and when we 
found ourselves in the region of sea-fog 
and frost,^^ we had no thoughts of tarrying 
there more than a day or two ; but we were 
unexpectedly detained ten days, which af- 
forded us an opportunity of seeing a little 
of the town of Halifax, and of becoming 
acquainted with some of the principal mem_- 



240 MY YOUTHFUL DAYS. 



bers of the Methodist Society there. But 
as my object in leaving England was not to 
visit foreign countries, for the sake of ex- 
ploring and describing them, I need say no 
more of Nova Scotia than that the climate 
is very healthy, and that the country is 
well watered with rivers, lakes, and bays ; 
that the waters are well stocked with fish 
of the very best kind; and that the for- 
ests abound with pine, birch, hemlock, oak, 
beech, ash, maple, elm, and other trees of 
equal beauty, if not of equal value. Some 
say that the eastern portion is rich in mine- 
rals : of the truth of this I know nothing, 
but it is well known that immense quanti- 
ties of gypsum, or plaster of Paris, as it is 
called, are shipped every year to the United 
States for the purpose of fertilizing the 
land. Coal, also, as well as lumber, makes 
a considerable item in the list of exports. 
How good is God to make the productions 
of one country subservient to the interests 
of another ! 

The town of Halifax is pleasantly situ- 
ated on the declivity of a hill, the summit 
of which, it is said, is two hundred and forty 



HALIFAX, NOA^A SCOTIA. 



241 



feet above the level of the sea. The bay, 
or harbor, is large enough to contain a fleet 
of one thousand ships, if need be. On the 
opposite side of the bay is the thriving vil- 
lage ofJDartmouth, which, from the Halifax 
side, makes a very pretty appearance. The 
streets of Halifax, thirty years ago, were 
not very regular, nor very even ; neither 
were the houses very uniform, either in size 
or in appearance. Probably the place is 
much improved since. At that time, like 
all other colonial dependencies, it was well 
fortified, and strongly guarded by well-dis- 
ciplined troops. Such a provision may be 
thought necessary under a monarchical gov- 
ernment : but, in my humble opinion, if 
half the expense of maintaining England^s 
proud navy, and invincible army, were de- 
ducted from her annual expenditures, her 
national debt might soon be extinguished, 
and the world would be none the worse for 
the change. 

Wednesday, Nov, 4. The captain being 
detained, in consequence of suffering a pas- 
senger to go ashore with goods without 
paying the dutv, several of the passengers 
16 



242 



MY YOUTHFUL DAYS. 



went to the theatre ; but the captain not 
being in a very good humor, would not send 
his boat to fetch them on board again until 
morning. This evening a guard of sol- 
diers was sent on board to prevent further 
trouble. 

Thiirsday, 5. The cabin passengers lodged 
a complaint against the captain for not pro- 
viding sufficiently for the voyage, and the 
steerage passengers sought redress for being 
detained so long at this port. Many Indians 
were in town to-day, as well as several of 
the descendants of the first settlers. At 
one o'clock His Majesty's frigate, the Fourth, 
of sixty-two guns, fired a salute, and hoisted 
the colors of all nations, in honor of the day 
being the anniversary of the Gunpowder 
Plot. The weather was clear and cold, and 
the fog, which was very dense on Sunday 
evening and Monday morning, entirely dis- 
appeared. 

Friday, 6. We visited the barracks to-day, 
and conversed with several of the soldiers, 
who treated us very civilly. They appeared 
to be content with their lot ; but after all 
that can be said, a miserable life is that of 



HALIFAX, NOVA SCOTIA. 243 

a soldier. In peace he spends his time in 
idleness, meditating mischief ; in war he 
wastes his energies in murdering as many 
of his fello^y-creatures, and in destroying as 
much property, as he can. A strange kind of 
policy is that of war. Dueling is bad enough, 
when only one man seeks to destroy the life 
of another; but when thousands make killing 
their fellow-creatures their chief employ- 
ment, it is horrible ! In the course of the 
afternoon, one of the passengers and I took 
a walk into the country, called at a house, 
and got some new milk. It was so delicious 
that we purchased a bottle and took some 
on board. On our return we left the main 
road, and had liked to have been lost in the 
woods. But we came across a company of 
Indians. They had kindled two large fires, 
and were lying round about and between 
them, apparently as free from care as if 

If this expression sound harshly, let the follow- 
ing awful facts be considered : " The war debts of 
Christian nations amount to the enormous sum of ten 
thousand millions of dollars. It is said that no heathen 
nations are in debt for war : Christian nations alone 
make war on credit 



244 



MY YOUTHFUL DAYS. 



they had mucli goods laid up for many 
years/^ They begged a few coppers of us, 
and gave us a fire-brand to light us out of 
the woods. About eight o'clock we reached 
the vessel in safety. One of our company 
had been taken ill of a fever, and for fear of 
the disorder's spreading, was taken ashore. 
One of the cabin passengers had lost about 
two thousand dollars in money. Some of 
the passengers having left the ship, and 
taken passage on board another vessel for 
Boston, a man-of-war's boat, and police offi- 
cers, were sent after them to search for the 
lost property, but it could not be found on 
any of them. At length it was discovered 
in the possession of the cabin-boy. The 
gentleman forgave the culprit, although he 
had made away with twenty or thirty dol- 
lars of the money. The poor fellow was so 
anxious to make others believe that he was 
rich, or the son of a rich man, that he soon 
began to squander his ill-gotten wealth. 
This led to his detection. 

Siinday, 9. My companions, Mr. and Mrs. 
Davidson, not feeling very well, I left them 
on board, and went to the house of the mis- 



HALIFAX, NOVA SCOTIA. 



245 



sionary, Mr. Dunbar, who, a little before 
meeting, introduced me to the singers, with 
whom I formed an agreeable acquaintance. 
The morning service was well attended. 
The missionary preached from 2 Cor. v, 20 : 
" Is ow then we are ambassadors for Christ,'^ 
&c. In the afternoon the good man pre- 
vailed on me to preach. I endeavored to 
expound and apply the words of Christ, 
*^ Blessed are they that hear the word of 
God and keep it.^^ I was much delighted 
with the singing, and greatly pleased with 
the devout attention of the people. After 
preaching I was introduced to the members 
of the public band-meeting. They speak 
much as our people do in love-feast and ge- 
neral class-meetings in this country. Class- 
meetings, band-meetings, and love-feasts 
formerly were regarded as '* the sinews of 
Methodism.^^ Wesley used to say, "Where 
there are no band-meetings there is no 
Methodism." But times, and persons, and 
things have changed since then. In the 
evening Mr. Black delivered an excellent 
discourse, from Eev. iii, 20: " Behold, I stand 
at the door, and knock,'^ &c> After meet- 



246 



MY YOUTHFUL DAYS. 



ing lie kindly pressed me to go Jiome with 
him and tarry all night, which I Avas very 
willing to do. We sat up till near mid- 
night. Mr. B. kindly interrogated me re- 
specting my object in going to the States, 
then asked me how it was with me in regard, 
to funds, and finally invited me to tarry in 
the province. Such kindness made me for- 
get the perils of the voyage, and feel very 
much at home. 

3Ionday, 9. Mr. Black entered more par- 
ticularly into my views and feelings ; sent 
for his son, Mr. Samuel Black, and his son- 
in-law, Mr. Hamilton, laid my case before 
them, showed them my letters of recommen- 
dation, and washed them to take the matter 
into consideration. Mr. Hamilton offered 
to eup'ao'e me as his clerk for four or five 
years ; but this very kind ofier I durst not 
accept, fearing that I could not endure the 
rigors of a Nova Scotia winter, being, as I 
imagined, predisposed to consumption. Mr. 
Samuel Black ofi'ered to employ me six 
months, with liberty to suit myself if any- 
thing else offered. But neither did I feel 
at liberty to accept of this very generous 



HALIFAX, NOVA SCOTIA. 247 

proposal, as my mind was drawn towards the 
United States with an attraction which I 
could neither explain nor resist. In the 
afternoon I took tea at Mr. Hamilton's, and 
in the evening met a party of singers at the 
house of Mr. Barry, another son-in-law of 
Mr. Black. 

Tuesday, 10. Mr. Bennett, chairman of 
the district, paid a visit to Halifax to-day. 
Mr. Black proposed me as a missionary. 
Mr. Bennett favored the proposition, but I 
was fearful of that also, and durst not ac- 
cede to it ; and yet I knew no more of the 
United States, and w^hat might befall me 
there, than Abraham did of the land of 
Canaan, and of what would happen to him 
there, before he left the land of his nativity. 
In the evening, at the request of Mr. Dun- 
bar, I preached again in the Methodist 
chapel. After sermon Mr. Bennett prayed 
for me in a most fervent manner, after 
which, not feeling clear in my mind to re- 
main in the province, I thanked my friends 
for their great kindness, and took my fare- 
well of them about ten o'clock, P. M. Mr. 
Black ffave me a letter of introduction to 



248 



MY YOUTHFUL DAYS. 



friends in New- York, and two dollars in 
money. Mr. D. gave me tie same snm in 
cash, and a bottle of wine to cheer me on 
the way, if necessary. The money was very 
acceptable, and the wine was very useful to 
Mrs. Davidson, who was very feeble in body 
and rather depressed in spirit. Such signal 
acts of benevolence I did not expect to meet 
with anywhere ; and, least of all, did I think 
that I should ever see that land where I met 
with so many tokens of Christian regard 
and brotherly love. 

After bidding our friends in Halifax fare- 
well, we embarked a second time for New- 
York, and for eleven dreary days, and as 
many dismal nights, we were tossed about 
again on the j)erilous deep. Sometimes a 
violent headwind drove us out to sea farther 
than we wished, then again a fair wind 
wafted us gently onwai'd toward the desired 
haven. Cold rains and contrary winds sent 
us to our berths, from which, if we did not 
take particular care, we were in danger of 
being suddenly ejected. On one occasion 
one of the passengers was thrown with 
dreadful violence from one side of the ves- 



HALIFAX, NOVA SCOTIA. 



249 



sel to tlie other, and, falling across a chest, 
injured his back very much. Another pas- 
senger seeing this, and fearing that worse 
might come, fainted away. One evening, 
in order to pass away the time, brother 
Davidson read a few chapters in a very ex- 
cellent work called "The Eetrospect,^' which 
quite relieved our anxious minds. The verse 
at the end of No. 10 seemed quite appro- 
priate : — 

But hush, my soul, nor dare repine, 
The time thy God appoints is best ; 
While here to do his will be mine, 
• And his to fix the time of rest.^^ 



250 



MY YOUTHFUL DAYS. 



CHAPTER XVI. 
NEW-LONDON, A In" D NEW-YORK. 

It Av^as not long after we had heard these 
comfortable lines, and taken, perhaps, one 
more night's rest on the rolling deep, that, 
as the day began to dawn, our slumbers 
were broken by a very agreeable sound, 
which was nothing else but ^'land in sight.'^ 
The weather was remarkably clear and cold ; 
but all our company were in good health, 
all were cheerful, all were glad, and a- few 
were truly thankful, in view of a speedy 
termination of the voyage. But our wary 
captain was not at all inclined to trust 
himself to take his vessel into port. He, 
therefore, very prudently engaged a pilot 
to do that for him. We were then not far 
from Block Island ; and as our captain was 
not acquainted Avith the coast, he trusted 
that all was right ; and on Saturday after- 
noon, 'Nov. 21st, we came to anchor in the 
harbor opposite the city of New-London. 
Our old friend, who supposed that in forty 



NEW-LONDON, CONNECTICUT. 251 

days we should gain the desired haven, 
thought it rather singular that we who 
sailed from London in the Old World, 
should land at London in the New. But 
so it was ; and pretty soon after we dropped 
anchor, a custom-house officer was on board. 
He was a pleasant old gentleman, and, as 
we afterwards found out, a member of the 
Methodist Episcopal Church. The next day 
being the holy Sabbath, I put on my over- 
coat and went ashore. The first man I saw 
on the dock was father Crannell, the good 
old gentleman who came on board in the 
capacity of a custom-house officer the even- 
ing before. I inquired of him for a place 
of worship, and he, true to his colors, direct- 
ed me to the Methodist Church. I had read 
about the Methodist Episcopal Church in 
America before I left England, and sup- 
posed that the term Episcopal included all 
that appertains to the whole Church service 
as performed in the Church of England, 
with the exception of prayers for the king 
and queen, and royal family. I expected 
to find stone churches, with towers and 
spires, and bells, and organs, and priests 



252 



MY YOUTHFUL DAYS. 



clad in sacerdotal garments ; and to hear 
prayers and sermons read, and all done up 
in true Episcopal style. What else could I 
expect ? Dr. Coke was a bishop, and Mr. 
Asbury was a bishop. Mr. Wesley wore his 
canonicals, and read prayers ; and how did 
I know but his successors in the ministry 
did the same ? I soon found out, however, 
that I had been mistaken. The preacher 
stationed in New-London was the Eev. Asa 
Kent, and the one I heard that morning 
w^as the Eev. Wm. Bentley, a local elder, 
from the city of Norwich. Had the former 
been bishop of New-London, and the latter 
of Norwich, I should not have complained, 
provided everything else had been in keep- 
ing with the dignity of their station. As 
it was, I was very well satisfied. Brother 
Bentley took for his text 1 Kings, x, 6-8, 
and his discourse was about the glory of 
Solomon's kingdom, and the greater glory 
of that of Christ. In the afternoon father 
Kent preached on Paul's thorn in the flesh : 
and a most capital sermon it was, fully 
equal, I think, to one which I heard from 
the Rev. Mr. Oakes, a little before I left 



NEW-LONDON, CONNECTICUT. 253 

Derby. In the evening Mr. Bentley preacli- 
ed again. On this occasion he gave a speci- 
men of that kind of controversial preaching 
for which the Methodists in JSTew-England 
had long been famons, but which is now 
getting out of date. It was well for me 
that the brethren did not ask me to preach, 
as I might not have had courage to refuse, 
or wisdom enough to avoid an undertaking 
where success would have been doubtful, 
and defeat all but certain. The good pas- 
tor, however, kindly offered me a lodging, 
which I thankfully accepted, as I was not 
able to get to the ship that night. 

The next morning I hastened on board 
with an invitation to brother and sister Da- 
vidson to go ashore. Having suffered no 
small mortification of feeling the day before, 
on account of my negligence in regard to 
dress, &c., I took care to shave, wash, change 
my clothes, and adjust my whole costume, 
so as to appear respectable. Brother and 
sister Davidson did the same ; and though 
there was a marked difference between the 
fashions of Old and New-England, the peo- 
ple of New-London made no objection to our 



254 



MY YOUTHFUL DAYS. 



dress, but received us cordially, and treated 
us with all that kindness for which the 
New-Engianders are so remarkable. We 
spent the day very pleasantly, in company 
with Messrs. Kent, Bentley, and others ; and 
in the evening attended prayer-meeting at 
the church, which was a lively and refresh- 
ing time. Brother and sister Davidson 
stayed all night at Mr. Kent's, and Mr. 
Bentley kindly took me to the house of Mr. 
Eogers, the confectioner, where I found my- 
self in the company of some choice singers, 
with whom I spent an agreeable hour, and 
then retired to rest, in an elegant upper 
room, richly furnished. Next morning, be- 
fore sunrise, father Crannell was looking 
us up to go and take breakfast with his 
family. I had taken tea with them the 
day before under very embarrassing cir- 
cumstances. But now the young ladies,, 
who looked on me then with a benignant 
kind of suspicion, treated me and my friends 
with the most marked attention. 

In the evening brother Davidson and I 
accompanied Messrs. Kent, Bentley, and 
Stockman, across the river to Groton, a 



NEW-LONDON, CONNECTICUT. 255 

stony kind of place, remarkable in tlie his- 
tory of tlie United States, for Colonel Led- 
yard's brave resistance of tlie British troops, 
under Arnold, in 1781. Here brother Da- 
vidson preached, and I gave an exhortation, 
after which we returned to the city. While 
recrossing the river, in an open boat, my 
attention was particularly arrested by the 
uncommon brilliancy of the evening star. 
I certainly thought, and with good reason, 
that bright Venus on her azure throne," 
appeared larger and brighter than in Eng- 
land; which was owing, no doubt, to the 
clearness of the atmosphere, so different 
from that of Old London. The next morn- 
ing, before we were aware, our ship weighed 
anchor, and sailed for New-York. For a 
moment or two we felt somewhat alarmed; 
but the friends kindly bade us be of good 
cheer, as Captain Howard, " a Methodist 
brother," vfould sail on Friday, and we 
might go with him. We therefore dismiss- 
ed our fears, and spent another day, very 
pleasantly, with our friends in New-London, 
and in the evening attended a meeting for 
prayer and exhortation at the church. 



256 



MY YOUTHFUL DAYS. 



Thursday, Nov, 26. As this was the day 
for General Thanksgiving throughout the 
State of Connecticut, at half-past ten, ac- 
cording to custom, we repaired to the 
church, where Mr. Kent first read the go- 
vernor's proclamation, and then preached 
a suitable discourse from Heb. xiii, 15 : 
" By him, therefore, let us offer the sacri- 
fice of praise to God continually, that is, 
the fruit of our lips, giving thanks unto 
His name."'" 

- As the proclamation is a State paper, and a very 
religious document, I herewith present my readers 
with a copy, — not the one that I heard that day, but 
one that I obtained since, viz., that of Governor 
Cleaveland, for the year 1843 : — 

"Another revolution of the seasons, crowned with 
the goodness of a beneficent Providence, has brought 
us to that period of the year when we are admonished 
by the examples of a pious ancestry, and our sense of 
duty, to set apart a day for the public expression of 
our thankfulness and gratitude, for the never-failing 
mercies of Him who reigneth in the heavens and con- 
troUeth the destiny of man. 

I do therefore recommend that Thursday, the thir- 
tieth day of November next, be observed throughout 
this State as a day of Christian thanksgiving, praise, 
and prayer. And I do invite the ministers and teach- 
ers of the various religious denominations, with all 



NEAV-LONDON, CONNECTICUT. 



257 



Having got tlirougli our religious exer- 
cises with, perliaps, as mucli sincerity and 
devotion as other people, we dined with 
father Cranneirs family; and then, in com- 

tlie people of the State, to assemble on that day at 
their usual places of divine worship, and there, with 
hearts filled with love towards God and their fellow- 
men, unite in the observance of such religious exer- 
cises and devotions as become the members of a 
Christian community. Especially ought we, on that 
occasion, to offer up the sacrifice of praise and thanks- 
giving to our heavenly Father, for the continuance of 
his guardian care over the welfare of our State and 
country during the year now drawing to a close : for 
blessing us with seasons of healthfulness and fertility; 
for exempting us from the horrors of war and the 
ravages of pestilence ; for rewarding the labors of the 
husbandman with abundant returns of the fruits of 
the earth ; prospering the mechanical, manufacturing, 
and commercial interests of our people ; and securing 
us in the quiet enjoyment of civil and religious free- 
dom. 

"We should also praise and adore his holy name 
for the distinguished blessings secured to us by the 
government under which, by his favor, we are per- 
mitted to live ; for the wonderful improvements that 
have been made in the arts and sciences ; for the suc- 
cess which has attended the benevolent and charitable 
enterprises of our people ; for the great moral revolu- 
tion that has been wrought in society by the glorious 
progress of the temperance reformation ; and, above 

17 



258 



MY YOUTHFUL DAYS. 



pany with the good old patriarch, the preach- 
er-in-charge, and his family, ^xe all took 
tea, or, more properly, a late dinner, in true 
thanksgiving style, according to the form 
and fashion of the land of steady habits,'^ 
at the house of our friend Eogers, the con- 
fectioner. The profusion of good things 
spread out before us, on this occasion, gave 
us reason to think that the people of Xew- 
Engiand had judged rightly in appointing 
a day for the special purpose of giving 
thanks unto the name of the Lord. I have 
taken many a thanksgiving dinner since, 

all, for proYicling us with tlie means of redemption, 
sanctification, and salvation, through the mediation 
of Jesus Christ our Lord. 

*'At the same time let prayers be offered for the 
continuance of the divine blessing upon our beloved 
country and its cherished institutions : that God in 
his mercy will hereafter vouchsafe to us the blessings 
of health, peace, concord, and plen ty ; that he will 
enlighten those who are intrusted with the adminis- 
tration of public affairs with his infinite wisdom, and 
guide and direct them in the performance of every 
official duty ; that all efforts for extending the bless- 
ings of liberty, advancing the cause of religion and 
morality, and meliorating the condition of the human 
race, may be prospered, and the inalienable rights of 
man be speedily recognized throughout the world.'^ 



NEW-LONDON, CONNECTICUT. 



239 



but do not now remember to have seen a 
table better supplied, or a finer specimen 
of Christian conviviality, than on that day. 
In the evening I attended meeting with 
father Crannel, at a private house, Avliere, 
after giving a short discourse on Jeremiah 
xxxii, 38, 39, we had a lively prayer-meet- 
ing, and the first specimen of transatlantic 
shouting that I ever heard. How it is that 
the good people of Old England have left 
off this practice, and the New-Englanders 
have taken it up, I shall not now stop to 
inquire. ^' Let every man be fully per- 
suaded in his own mind.'' A good, hearty, 
Amen,'' in the time of prayer, or a sensi- 
ble shout of praise, in time of sermon, is 
very animating ; it has the sanction of 
Scripture, and therefore it must be right. 

The time having arrived for us to leave 
New-London, w^e took passage for New- York 
with Captain Howard. He sent for us be- 
fore breakfast, and with sailor-like generos- 
ity made us welcome to the best his sloop 
afforded. We left the port of New-London 
about eight o'clock, with a fair wind and 
pleasant company, thankful to God and the 



260 



MY YOUTHFUL DAYS. 



friends for the kindness we liad experienced 
while there. 

The city of New-London was so named 
by an act which passed the Assembly in 
1658. Part of this ancient document is in 
the following words, to w4t : Whereas it 
hath been the commendable practice of the 
inhabitants of all these colonies, that as 
this country hath its denomination from 
our dear native country, and thence is call- 
ed New-England, so the planters in their 
first settling of new plantations have given 
to them the names of Boston, Hartford, 
Windsor, &c., this court, considering, that 
there hath yet no place in any of the colo- 
nies been named in memory of the city of 
London, that therefore they might leave to 
posterity the memory of that renowned city 
from whence we had our transportation, 
have thought fit, in honor to that famous 
city, to call the said plantation New-Lon- 
don^ The name of the river was also call- 
ed Thames, after the name of the river that 
runs through the city of London. The 
English colonists did not then foresee that 
New-Amsterdam, in less than two centuries, 



NEW-LONDON, CONNECTICUT. 201 

would become the largest city in the New 
World, and in less than two centuries more 
would probably rival London itself, or they 
would, most likely, liave called the Connec- 
ticut seaport by some other name, and have 
given its present appellation to New- York. 
Be that as it may, New-London is a plea- 
sant place. 

The harbor is the best in the State, hav- 
ing five fathoms water, and is both spacious 
and safe, and accessible at all seasons of 
the year, and at all times of the tide. The 
city is built on a gentle declivity, on the 
west bank of the river Thames, fourteen 
miles south of Norwich. It contains five 
or six places of worship, three banks, two 
insurance offices, and two or three news- 
paper establishments. The inhabitants own 
considerable shipping, employed in the coast- 
ing trade, the trade with the West Indies, 
and the whale and seal fisheries. In 1884 
upward of thirty ships, and nine hundred 
men and boys, were employed in this last- 
mentioned branch of business. 

The Methodist church which, in 1818, 
had just been finished, is literally built on 



262 



MY YOUTHFUL DAYS. 



a rock, will seat, perhaps, eight hundred 
persons, and is a very commodious place of 
worship. The pulpit, in size and shape, 
was something new to me, being much 
lower, larger, and more convenient than 
our pulpits in England. It is, if I remem- 
ber right, of a semi-circular form, and will 
hold, if need be, six or seven preachers. 
The chief singers, at that time, sat facing 
the pulpit. They did not monopolize the 
singing, but led that part of divine w^orship 
in a Christian-like manner. The tunes, 
and their style of singing, were such as had 
long prevailed in New-England, but the 
singing was much better than such as I 
have heard since in some places. The men 
with deep-toned voices sang the bass, " son- 
orous and clear those with tenor voices 
sang the air, in which also many women 
joined ; and those women who had been 
properly trained, sang what was then called 
the treble, in such tunes as Wells, Wind- 
ham, Coronation, and Exhortation, common 
metre and long metre. The practice of 
letting pews was not then as common as it 
is now, but after every sermon the trustees 



NEW-LONDON, CONNECTICUT. 263 

took up a collection, called The Penny 
Collection/^ for the purpose of defraying 
the expense of warming and lighting the 
house, and keeping it in order. 

About two years before we were there a 
great revival of religion had taken place 
in New-London among the Methodists, at 
which time the number of converts was 
very considerable. My first impressions 
of the preacher-in-charge (Eev. Asa Kent) 
were, that for preaching abilities, genuine 
and deep piety, uprightness of character, 
consistency of conduct, and agreeableness 
of manners, he stood deservedly high among 
his people ; and his kindness and care over 
the strangers, while we were there, will 
never be forgotten as long as his name is 
familiar to our eyes and ear&. 

There have been many defections in 
New-England since that period, as well 
among the Methodists as in " the standing 
order.^^ " Nevertheless, the heart of Asa,'' 
I believe, has been perfect all his days.'' 
1 Kings XV, 14. He is a Methodist of the 
right stamp, and a genuine Christian. The 
kindness of father Crannell, Messrs. Stock- 



264 



MY YOUTHFUL DAYS. 



man and Eogers, and all others, wliose 
hospitality we shared, will always be re- 
membered as a pleasing incident, insepar- 
able from the name of New-London. 

In two days after we left the hospitable 
shores of New-England we saw the towers 
and spires of the great and growing city of 
New- York, which, on account of its size, 
situation, population, and extensive com- 
merce, is properly called the London of 
America, and, as I have said before, should 
have been so named. In 1818 the popula- 
tion was not quite 200,000. Now, I sup- 
pose, it is not far from 500,000. The 
number of Methodist churches at that time 
was ten, of which only one is now standing, 
the others having been rebuilt, and twelve 
more added since. When I and my friends, 
J. and L. Davidson, landed in this city, 
which was on Saturday afternoon, Novem- 
ber 29th, we were conducted, by Captain 
Howard, to the residence of the book agent, 
the Eev. Joshua Soule, who, on hearing our 
names, and from what country we came, 
responded, " Well, brethren, I am glad to 



ARRIVAL IN XEW-YORK. 



265 



see you as strangers and foreigners. I am 
glad to see you as Englishmen. I am 
glad to see you as Methodists, but more 
particularly as Methodist preachers/^ — all 
which, in connection with the bland and 
dignified manner in which it was uttered, 
made a deep and lasting impression on our 
minds. Such language was worthj^ of the 
man who has now, for many years, filled 
the high and responsible oflice of a Chris- 
tian bishop. 

The next day Avas the holy Sabbath, and 
it was our privilege to worship on the spot, 
though not in the same building, where the 
first Methodist chapel in the New World 
was built. We were glad to join in the 
same modes of worship, and to hear the 
same doctrines preached as in England. 
The first preacher that we heard was the 
Eev. Laban Clark, the second, Seth Crowell, 
and the third, Eitch Reed. I dare say the 
sermons were good, but, alas ! for me, I 
was so much taken up with other thoughts, 
that I soon forgot both text and sermon, 
and, in this instance, I ought to set myself 
down as a forgetful hearer of the word.'^ 



266 



MY YOUTHFUL DAYS. 



In the course of the follo^Ying week we 
formed an agreeable acquaintance with most 
of the preachers stationed in the city, and 
also with several other friends and families, 
some natives of this country, and some of 
that from which we came. A few of them 
are still pilgrims on earth, but the greater 
part have gone to their long home. Their 
names are still dear to us, and the memory 
of their kindness is too deeply engraven on 
our hearts ever to be effaced. The words 
of our Lord, " I was a stranger and ye took 
me in,^^ seldom occur to my mind without 
bringing with them the tenderest recollec- 
tion of the scenes of Mghteen Hundred 
and Mghteen, and of the cordial reception, 
the generous greetings, and kind enter- 
tainment we met with in Nova Scotia, New- 
London and New- York. 

On presenting my letters of recommenda- 
tion to the proper authorities in the Method- 
ist Episcopal Church, I was advised not to 
go into any secular business, but to give 
myself up to the work of the ministry ; and 
as there was a temporary vacancy on Ja- 
maica circuit, Long Island, I was recom- 



ARRIVAL IN NEW-YORK. 267 

mended to tlio presiding elder, the Eev. 
Samuel Menvin, as a suitable person to fill 
that place. Tliis Avas new work to me ; and 
as everything connected with it was new 
and interesting, if I ever shall have occa- 
sion to resume my narrative, I will tell the 
reader what were my first impressions of 
that part of this great and growing country 
where it has been my lot to travel. 



THE Em 



1^ — ^ 

WORKS PUBLISHED BY LANE & SCOTT, 

200 Mulberry-street, New-York. 



Coles's Concordance. 

A New Concordance of the Holy Scriptures of tlie Old 
and New Testaments. By Kev. Geokge Coles. Third 
thousand. 



The preparation of such a "book is necessarily a work of vast 
labour, but, "when completed, the work is of great value. 

Cruden's has been considered the best Concordance hitherto 
known. Several others have been in use, but they have 
been incomplete, and inadequate to the wants of a Bible 
student. The chief objections to Cruden's Concordance 
have been its unwieldy size and high price. That work, 
moreover, is about a hundred years old, and if not defective 
in its arrangement, certainly admits of manifest improve- 
ment, as is proved hj the volume before us. 

Coles's Concordance, although containing all the references 
of Mr. Cruden's, and many new ones, is so compactly 
printed as hardly to exceed the size of a pocket Bible, and 
is sold at the low price of one dollar. It contains no less 
than 960 pages, and is destined to remain to future genera- 
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This, to say the least that can be said, is, in almost every 
respect, the very best Concordance now extant. It is really 
an improvement on all the older works, being both more 
copious and more correct. What more can we say? We 
have used it considerably since it was laid upon our table, 
and shall continue to use it in preference to any and every 

• other within our reach. — Ladies' Repository. 

Right glad are we that so valuable a contribution to Biblical 
literature has been furnished by a Methodist preacher. We 
are pleased that the author has confined himself strictly to 
the work which he undertook, without invading the pro- 
vince of the lexicographer or the theologian. We do not 
hesitate to recommend it heartily to all students of the Bi- 
ble. — Southern Christian Advocate. 

Every Bible student has known the value of a good Concord- 
ance. Very little progress could be made in the doctrinal 
study of the Scriptures without one. To Sabbath-school 
teachers and members of Bible classes a Concordance is in- 
dispensable. The one named at the head of this notice is 
said by good judges to be superior to all its predecessors. — 
Rhode Island Fledge. 



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Coles's Juvenile Lectures. 

Lectures to Children, on various interesting Subjects. 
By Kev. George Coles. Fifth tJwusancL 

18mo., pp. 128. Muslin $0 26 

We have read this interesting little volume with a pleasure 
which v> e do not often derive from books of this description, 
on account of its admirable adaptation to the capacity and 
feelings of the child. The interest is preserved in every 
page. — Brooklyn Advocate. 

"We have not for a long time taken a Sun day -school book in 
our hands with which we were so much pleased. — Ziori's 
Herald. 

"VVe know of no one who is better adapted to entertain and 
enlighten children in their true duties than the able author 
of this little work. — PovghJceepsie Tdegraplu 



Coles's Address on the Bible. 

An Address delivered before the Young Men's Bible So- 
ciety of Hartford, in the Centre Church, Feb. 28, 1836. 
By Rev. George Coles. 

8vo., pp. 40. Paper covers $0 06 

Coles's Hist, and Character of Methodism. 

The History and Character of Methodism ; a Centenary 
Sermon, preached in the Duane-street Church, Oct. 25, 
1839. By Bev. George Coles. 

8vo., pp. 40. Paper covers SO 05 

Portrait of Ruth. 

Extracted from the Works of the late Dr. Hunter. To 
which is added, a Fragment in verse. The whole re- 
vised and arranged for the use of Sabbath Schools. By 
Bev. George Coles. 

18mo,, pp. 136. Muslin or sheep SO 25 

The touching Incidents in the life of this interesting Scripture 
female are well illustrated and enforced in this volume. 
The reader will improve mind and heart by the reading of 
its pages. 



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Treffry on Prayer. 

Treffry on Prayer. A Treatise on Secret and Social Pray- 
er. By Rev. Richaed Teeffry. Fourth thousand. 
18mo., pp. 219. Muslin or sheep SO 35 

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It is emphatically a book for the closet, full of truth and full 
of feeling- ; and wiiile it is v/ell calculated to promote both 
the revival and augmentation of personal piety, the part 
devoted to "social prayer" is uot less adapted to more 
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Stones' Tables for Reading the Scriptures. 

A Guide to a Regular Perusal of the Holy Scriptures; 
wherein Proper Lessons are appointed for Family and 
Private Worship for every Day in the Year. To which 
is added a Table of Lessons for Public Worship on Sun- 
day Mornings. Also, a Table of Lessons for Particular 
Days. By William Stoxes. 

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congregations, by means of which the Psalms and the New 
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Young s Inquirer. 

The Inquirer after Salvation affectionately Addressed. 
By Rev. Robeet Young. Seventh thousand. 

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Miller s German Missions. 

Origin and Progress of the German Missions in the Meth- 
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Woolseifs Supernumerary. 

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Valuable suggestions as to the proper management of such 
occasions are given in the preface. 








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